DOTr calls out MRT 3 guards for accosting transgender

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Tuesday it might come up with guidelines to ensure gender equality in mass transit, particularly on the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 line, after a transgender woman was questioned and barred from the female section.

In a video posted on Facebook, Mikki Galang was waiting in the women’s section on the MRT 3 platform when two security guards accosted her, saying men were not allowed there.

When Galang said she was a woman, the security guards asked her, “In what way?”

They warned her that other riders had complained about her being there although another commuter was heard saying, “No one’s complaining here.”

The video triggered public sympathy and renewed calls to pass the Sogie bill which seeks to penalize discrimination and abuse on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

In a statement, DOTr communications director Goddes Libiran maintained that the department “[does not tolerate] any form of inequality when it comes to gender and service.”

She said what happened was a matter of “further educating the staff and employees, even security guards, to be more sensitive to these [issues].”