Ebeng Mayor, a trans man in the Philippines, mutilated, raped and murdered in disturbing hate crime
Ebeng Mayor’s body was discovered after he had been missing for three days. (Facebook/ Transman Equality and Awareness Movement – Philippines)
A trans man in the Philippines named Ebeng Mayor was mutilated, raped and murdered in a disturbing hate crime.
Content warning: This story describes graphic violence.
Mayor had been missing for three days when his body was discovered on Thursday (20 May).
According to local trans rights organisation Transman Equality and Awareness Movement Philippines, it is believed that Mayor, from Batasan Hills, Quezon City, was raped and mutilated before his death.
A wooden stick was found having been pushed into his genitalia.
The organisation said on Facebook: “This brutal act is a clear indication of a hate crime.
“The trans masculine community is vulnerable to sexual violence in the Philippines, a country that condones rape culture and victim blaming and a president with a penchant for making rape jokes and derogatory remarks.”
Transman Equality and Awareness Movement Philippines said it conducted a survey in 2017 which found that almost a third of LGBT+ college students in the Philippines had experienced sexual harassment.
“We call for a full and thorough investigation of this atrocious crime and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice to the full extent of the law,” the organisation continued.
“And we call for the immediate passing of the SOGIE Equality Bill, a law that has been languishing in the Senate.”
It added: “We express our deepest condolences to the family of the late Ebeng Mayor.”
The long-awaited Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression Equality (SOGIE) bill, which would prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in the Philippines, was first filed in congress in 2000.
It passed in the House of Representatives but failed to pass through the Senate. It has been refiled time and time again throughout the last two decades.
The LGBT+ community in the Philippines often faces violence and discrimination.
The country has no legal recognition of same-sex relationships, no way for citizens to change their legal gender, and no adoption for same-sex couples.
