PHILO 17 B – PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH

Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan

A Thesis on
In Defense of the Person: Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity as a
Universalizable Maxim of Self-Determination and Self-Actualization

Submitted by:
Jose D. Santos III

Submitted to:
Derrick Bart Buaya Pimentel

May, 2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1

BODY 1

A. CHAPTER 1 1
a. SEXUAL ORIENTATION GENDER EXPRESSION AND IDENTITY 2
b. 2
c. 2
B. CHAPTER 2 2
a. KANT, FREEDOM, AND PERSONHOOD 3
b. 3
c. 3
C. CHAPTER 3 3
a. CONFLICT AND THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE 3
b. 4
c. 4
C. CHAPTER 4 3
a. CONFLICT AND THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE 3
b. 4
c. 4
D. CHAPTER 5 5
a. KANT AND THE SEXUAL ORIENTATION GENDER EXPRESSION AND IDENTITY BILL 3
b. 4
c. 4

CONCLUSION 5

BIBLIOGRAPHY 6
 CHAPTER 1

Moving forward Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity or SOGIE and the

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Intersex Asexual Plus or LGBTQIA+ shall be

understood as the community that has strongly identified their respective identity and means of

actualization physically and non-physically, and the latter SOGIE as the concept/term of Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity.

The SOGIE/SOGI movement has its modern roots found within social, activist, cultural,

and political movements as a reaction and response towards centuries of systemic, religious, and

social persecution.1 But the heart of this movement in depth lies with the punitive social and

systematic response towards any and all deviation from established gender and sexual norms

introduced by dogmatic religious doctrine, systematic gain from entrenched gender/sex norms,

and capitalistic profiteering from gender and sexual based exploitation; this can be seen in

trivialized and sensationalized public reactions, workplace discrimination, religious persecution,

harassment, and physical beatings/dangers.2 The examples and sources of persecution have been

greatly entrenched within an almost unquestioned position of the reality of individuals who

exhibit deviation. There exists, and still does, danger for any individual that identified their

Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, to the extent that they were in support of

such a truth or was in conflict with the established roles, that they risk personal danger when

speaking out towards such a volatile system and reality.

1 Helga Varden, "A Feminist, Kantian Conception of the Right to Bodily Integrity: The Cases of Abortion and
Homosexuality," The Right to Bodily Integrity, 2017, 33-34, doi:10.4324/9781315237367-5.
2 Varden, "short title,"34.

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 This will play an important context from which how the paper aims to apply its

conclusion which aims to set the basis under Natural Law, in the sense of an absolute order in

place, but we look towards Legal Positivism in the application of the later findings of the paper

in order to fine tune and filter the praxis of the theory.

BACKGROUND

Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity (“SOGIE”) has been a venue of self-

actualization within all members of human society from which it builds upon, and affirms, the

ideation of the persons identification of their being and actualizes it through means available to

them, be it through something as simple as clothing, choice of romantic/platonic relationships,

and towards sexual practice. In a long running reality of individuals whose Sexual Orientation

Gender Expression and Identity deviates from the established trend has been, and still is, under

deep scrutiny from many established and entrenched political, social, and religious grounds.

With the rise of recognition, and stigma, of those within the LGBTQIA+ community there exist

an important point of discussion on the premise on Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity, or SOGIE for short, within the realms of deliberating on its necessity and compatibility

with an ethical and moral framework, in this case Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative, and

the ideation following Self-Determination. It is imperative to start with the existing paradigm of

Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity within the consideration of Self-

Determination and the modern paradigm of the plurality of choice.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

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 The thesis will focus on the characteristics of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity in relation of Kant’s Categorical Imperative in position of asserting SOGIE’s relevance

and importance towards self-determination

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1) what is Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity?

2) Is Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity integral towards self-determination

and self-actualization?

3) Does Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity conflict with the Categorical

Imperative?

4) Is the recognition of SOGIE of the state a fundamental duty of the state?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The results of this study will benefit the following groups:

In the forwarding of the discussion and deliberation in the gathering discussion regarding

self-actualization.

To the Academic community within Xavier University, the study aims to help further

discussion and deliberate Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity under the Kantian

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Categorical Imperatives. It also serves as the basis in order to provide information on Kantian

ethics and how it can be applied in the academic demographic.

To the Future Researchers, this will help the future researchers in conducting the same or

similar study because they can have an idea of how Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity integral stance towards self-actualization of the individual in a Kantian sense.

To the LGBTQIA+ community, which film forms a basis of discussion and recognition

as an inherent and fundamental aspect of the individual’s self-determination and self

actualization through Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity.

METHODOLOGY

The basis of deliberating the premise of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity as the individual's inherent choice in line with self-determination shall be understood

and looked upon with the main primary source, namely The Groundworks of the Metaphysics of

Morals by Immanuel Kant. It is in contrast towards the plurality of choice within the era of

modernity and the categorical imperative where one's Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity is to be placed and understood. The Categorical Imperative and its three formulations

consisting of Human-as-end in itself, Universality, and Autonomy will consist of what Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity will amount to in contrast Christine Korsgaard’s

Kant's Formula of Universal Law which will further nuance the ideation of self-determination

through the recognition of the contemporary and relevant need of Kant’s categorical imperative

that intensifies the turn in the actualization of choice.

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 This paper will utilize and argue that Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity

through Kant’s Categorical Imperative in arguing for the case of self-actualization of the

individual. This study will first review various types of constraints on the Sexual Orientation

Gender Expression and Identity and its characteristics; from which connecting it to a Kantian

basis of self-determination and self-actualization. Based on this understanding, an identifying

framework will be developed to categorize factors for the purpose of understanding the methods

used in the Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity.

In the second stage of this study, Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity will

be identified based on a comprehensive review of current paradigm of choice based on sources

obtained from both Helga Varden’s A Feminist, Kantian Conception of the Right to Bodily

Integrity: The Cases of Abortion and Homosexuality and Christine Korsgaard’s Kant's Formula

of Universal Law, as well as journalistic articles, scholarly papers, philosophical articles,official

statements from state entities, and pre existing research papers on the above mentioned topics.

The following Identification and classification of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity through Kant’s Categorical Imperative will then be used to create the basis of the state of

Kantian self-determination and self-actualization under the basis of the Categorical Imperative as

discussed in The Groundworks of the Metaphysics of Morals. Once the classification and

categorization of the act of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity have been

identified, a problematization framework to guide analysis in subject to the Categorical

Imperative in order to determine the nature of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity whilst providing alternatives.

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SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

In this paper I shall attempt to argue that this fundamental freedom in all its aspects of

actualization and manifestation is indeed consistently translated in not only in the individual's

right to practice this freedom but also the person’s choice of their Sexual Orientation Gender

Expression and Identity is not contradictory towards Kant’s Categorical Imperative.

Role of the state

Duty of the other to respect the other

Autonomy and rationality

The research paper shall be ultimately aimed at the effort to argue that Sexual Orientation

Gender Expression and Identity is an integral process of an individual's inherent ability towards

self-actualization and self-determination, as afforded to it as a universal maxim within Kant’s

categorical imperative. The paper will look into the definition and understanding of Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity and it shall also identify through its forms of

manifestation by the individual within the context of the modern contemporary period; it is in the

researcher’s interest to then deliberate on the plurality of choice making and the inherent

reflection needed before a decision is made, specifically in that of Sexual Orientation Gender

Expression and Identity. The paper shall only be limited in the deliberation on Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity as a Kantian universal maxim intended in

progressing discussions on the nature of such in relation to the individual’s choice and that of

ethical premise.

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REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A number of vital works to which provided the needed context towards the Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity and Kant’s Categorical Imperative in a

contemporary understanding to which have greatly formed the basis and general scope of this

paper. A short review of these works will be showcased below.

“Kant's Formula of Universal Law,” Christine Korsgaard touches upon the concept of

revolution and on Kant’s political perspective. Korsgaard emphasizes Kant’s political spectrum,

specifically on the role of the sovereign, that it all that is consistent with freedom, be it in the

universal and individual sense, requires that all observe the autonomy present and for another

individual or the state to interfere means the violation of your freedom and the universal

principle of justice. In this we return to Korsgaard and her two notable works being “Kant’s

formula of universal law” which expounds on the Universal categorical imperative and its

function. The text expounds, as Korsgaard explains, that If the universalization of a maxim

would result in the disconnect between action and purpose then it isn't a sufficient reason for the

action. This is titled as the Practical Contradiction Interpretation in which exists as a test, for

maxims, to determine whether a maxim is unfit to be an universal practical law towards an

autonomous being.

Korsgaard second work to be discussed is “Fellow creatures: Kantian Ethics and Our

duties to Animals” for it expounds on the Categorical Imperative of End-In-Itself . Korsgaard

explains that, like Kant, all rational beings are autonomous wherein this autonomy provides the

foundation in which we can view man as ends-in-themselves and this is important in determining

not only the value but the legislative will wherein the universal imperative is tackled. This

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provides a contemporary and nuanced rendition of the pure ethics Kant’s Groundworks of the

Metaphysics of Morals set out to do in an attempt to further discuss the set parameters of

autonomy.

Immanuel Kant’s “The Groundworks of the Metaphysics of Morals” presents the

argument and framework in establishing a universal or pure ethics through the categorical

imperative. Kant presents the ethical system based on the principles of reason, duty, and

goodwill which sets the basis of the universal principle of the categorical imperative and its

formulations.

Helga Varden paper titled “A Feminist, Kantian Conception of the Right to Bodily

Integrity: The Cases of Abortion and Homosexuality” focuses on the on the deliberation of the

right of bodily choice, autonomy, and integrity in the attempt to provide a kantian ethical

deliberation. The Varden talk about the human person as a rational being as the embodiment

freedom and from which extends, and inherently applies, the categorical imperative in all its

formulations, the focus here is to link and argue that within this embodied freedom inherent

within the human person both by virtue of humanity and the spatiotemporal body, meaning the

material/physical body, within the Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity of the

individual.

Kory Schaff “Kant, Political Liberalism, and the Ethics of Same-Sex Relations” it

focuses on creating tools for defense of same-sex marriage on the moral grounds that Kant

presents in his Groundworks of the Metaphysics of Morals. In this, the focus on the two

individuals that engage in marriage, or in relationships, are enforced socially and legally. This is

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a view that Kant presents when he argues against homosexually but it in turn falls short and does

not stand when placed against his categorical imperative. Kant here throws out marriage and

relationships when both or one of the individuals within the relationship cannot give themselves

equally towards the other i.e. in the case of failure of conception or inability to meet the physical

and emotional means. In the case of homosexual partners, and in extension relationships that do

not follow the traditional means, would in principle will still be in principle be between equals

that

Jennifer Nelson “Human Personhood from a Kantian Perspective” focuses on the setting

and determining the parameters of what is considered as a person and personhood. The ethical

framework and philosophy of Kant provides an ontological stance in determining personhood.

Personhood in the Kantian sense sets that with the consideration of moral duty and the

categorical imperative determines that personhood is an inherent fact of humanity.

INTRODUCTION

The discussion and work of Kant’ has left not much development, and overall lacking

deliberation, on the topic of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity aside from his

tackling on the not so permissible permissibility of homosexual relationships and sex. It is here

that it is important to admit and acknowledge the overall confusing and underdeveloped area of

Kant’s deontological ethics and writings that leaves much to be desired in both the academe and

in ethical deliberations. The ethical tools and framework that Kant develops over the course of

The Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals is inherently built on the foundational respect for

each individual human being towards an fundamental freedom inherent in all.

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 The long development, discourse, and eventual recognition of Sexual Orientation Gender

Expression and Identity within large parts of nations and societies to the extent where there now

exist social support and to an extent religious support from certain communities, but there still

exists a prominent discussion regarding the morality and ethical nature of SOGIE in its nature of

relationships, sex, lifestyle, and personal choice. The discussion of Sexual Orientation Gender

Expression and Identity is ripe within the lens of Kant’s Categorical Imperative and its position

within developing further discussion and legitimacy. Admittedly Kant is not kind towards Same

sex relations, both in terms of relationship and sexual intercourse, this of course is contradictory

to the Categorical Imperative and its formulations –as seen in Kant’s discourse on marriage

wherein he raises marriage between two individuals in effort towards the nature of sexual desire

and procreation, but then argues that a marriage is dismissed if both individuals are unable to

equally meet the need of the other– it is here that the argument to be made regarding same sex

relationships are moral since marriage may only occur between two individuals equal.

In the field of legislation and law-making bodies wherein it discusses two main themes in

viewing legal philosophy and that is Natural Law and Legal Positivism, which in essence

discusses the realities of an inherent objective moral/just truth or that of a man made creation.

There exist a real debate in both the courts of nations and in the academe regarding the status of

laws, morality, and human nature in either the objective nature of authority/order or in the lack

thereof of such Natural law theory places fundamental and the objective truth of reason and a

real existing natural order that is inherently present in both moral and law making decision

making. Legal positivism on the other hand argues that laws and morals are inherently

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constructed by humanity with absolutely no relation towards an objective truth, be this in the

form of religion or in a universal maxim.3

This system of active development of theory through Natural Law’s disposition of

universal maxim, that and the vastness of ideological development, and the pragmatic

applicability of Legal Positivism in that it is already an established system within many systems

of government, nation-states, and societies. In this we must view Natural Law and Legal

Positivism similarly with how we view and apply a state's constitution and the laws that stem

from it. This would include the ability to predict and provide a universal constitution based on

reason and logic to be universally flexible and applicable as done through comprehensive and

situation based laws within the contexts of its legislation, with the fundamental guidance on the

inherent absoluteness of a reasoned based constitution that is universally applicable.

In example we can turn to the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights by the United

Nations, or the Rome Statute by the International Criminal Court, as examples of universally

reasoned maxim in line with Natural Law that is then adopted and made situation specific, and

legislated while following the constitution set, by the key strengths of Legal Positivism, that

namely of direct seen flow of such laws, pragmatism but softened by the identified inherent

universal value of all beings, and the extension of a executive arm that can act out the mandates

of this universal constitution.4

3 Kory Schaff, "Kant, Political Liberalism, and the Ethics of Same-Sex Relations," Journal of Social Philosophy
32, no. 3 (2001): 447, doi:10.1111/0047-2786.00106.
4 Schaff, "Political Liberalism and Same-Sex Marriage," 457.

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 The introduction of mass accessible media outlets and sources such as newspapers,

radio, television, and the internet have made great impacts in the discussion and presentation of

the plight of the LGBTQIA+ community and the whole discussion on Sexual Orientation,

Gender Expression and Identity. The prevalence of accessible media and the general discussion

on Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity have warranted a deeper look by

psychologists, researchers, academics, and religious groups into the overall position making and

taking on aspects of recognition with the growing realities of the individual’s nature and means

of freedom; this overall pushed a large humanist movement towards the discussion and

recognition of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity and the LGBTQIA+

community. The discussion has made Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity an

integral aspect on the formulation, legislation, and deliberation on human rights.

The law, policies, regulations, and even the legitimacy of an authority is not based on

universal laws as considerations, but on the legitimized authority, be it in the form of language,

culture, sovereign or socially. It is here that validity of any law is determined by the source of its

legitimacy. In other words law is valid for as long as it stems from a legitimized source. The

view stands in direct contrast and opposite towards natural law. In essence legal positivists hold

it tantamount to the construction and implementation of laws that the law and morality. Laws in

this case are valid regardless of the morally unjust and unfair, and does not provide the grounds

of making a legislation or law invalid. Legal positivism has taken the center stage of legal

development within the modern-contemporary period.

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 Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity has always been a topic of great

discourse in the context of the individual’s personal deliberation, religious discussion, cultural

significance, state legislature, political debate, scientific research, and philosophical

introspection simply because of its place in discussing human nature but it is important to first

dismantle what Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity or SOGIE is, in order to

discuss it in better detail moving forward. For this purpose I shall divide into three concepts that

make up the whole: (a) Sexual Orientation or SO; refers strictly towards the individual’s affinity,

attraction, or partnership, or lack thereof, be it sexually, romantically or platonically, towards

persons of the opposite or same sex and gender, (b) Gender Expression or GE; shall refer to the

means and methods of the persons presentation of themselves through physical means such as,

but not limited to, means of dressing, cosmetics, and accessories, and also through non-physical

means such as names, mannerism, and behavior. (c) Gender Identity or GI; will refer to the

individual person’s internal feelings and experience that their existing biological gender assigned

at birth does not correspond with themselves by personal sense of their body in which the person

undertakes chosen modification of body.5 The above stated definition shall be understood as

what Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity or SOGIE is in further proceedings

within the discussion of this paper and in the following arguments and deliberations.6

With this I shall be discussing Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, or

SOGIE, as experienced within the present period and as stated above. It is also of importance to

understand Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity as it is implicated within the

5 Senate Bill No. 1600 SOGIESC EQUALITY ACT," legacy.senate.gov.ph, accessed March 24, 2023,
https://legacy.senate.gov.ph/lis/bill_res.aspx?congress=19&q=SBN-1600.
6 Jennifer Nelson, "Human Personhood from a Kantian Perspective," DigitalCommons@Cedarville, accessed
March 22, 2023, https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/cedar_ethics_online/3/?
utm_source=digitalcommons.cedarville.edu%2Fcedar_ethics_online
%2F3&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages.

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notion of self-actualization and self-determination inherent within all of humanity/human beings

present within all eras of human history but shall only be discussed and focused on within the

modern/contemporary period and its existing paradigm. That being said there shall be a active

attempt towards the suspension of looking into religious, cultural, and political influences and

systems, except in the utilization as a hypothetical, in order to look into Sexual Orientation

Gender Expression and Identity by the principle of the individual’s self-determination and

actualization characteristics inherent within the freedom afforded to the individual.

It is now imperative that a working definition of freewill, self-actualization, and self-

determination is needed in order to discuss further these integral concepts in relation to Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity: (a) Freewill/Freedom; both of these terms shall be

referred to as the innate right to independence of every being, but in this context that of

humanity, to act with no constraint placed within the intertwined existence with other free beings

(b) Self-actualization; shall refer strictly towards through physical or non-physical means,

methods, and consequences that come to be as pursued by the being. (c) Self-determination; it

shall be the active choice undertaken by the individual being in pursuant of their identified goal,

purpose, feeling, and principle as afforded to human beings by their inherent freedom.

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 CHAPTER 2

In Immanuel Kant’s The Groundworks Of The Metaphysics Of Morals he aims to

deliberate and argue that the foundation for morality is based on the capacity of reason and

rationality. Morality is not to be based and derived from personal or social preference but is

ultimately grounded in a fundamental universal principle. Kant stresses and argues that morality

must be derived from reason with recognition of humanity as a rational being. It is here that

reason sets the basis and precipice of what will be ultimately a universal principle that is

applicable without degrading the rational being, this clearly stated within the categorical

imperative.

Good will is a fundamental principle that sets the basis of setting up Kant’s Categorical

Imperative and his moral theory. Now, good will is defined by Kant as the act done in

accordance with duty regardless of the consequences that occur, this is an essential aspect of

Kant’s non-consequential and deontological ethics, this is used towards the acknowledgement of

the inherent rationality and inalienable recognition of the human person, and this is presented as

“The good will is good not through what it effects or accomplishes, not through its efficacy for

attaining any intended end, but only through its willing, i.e., good in itself, and considered for

itself, without comparison, it is to be estimated far higher than anything that could be brought

about by it in favor of any inclination, or indeed, if you prefer, of the sum of all

inclinations.”(GMM 4:395).7 Moral actions are motivated by the good will that present the

recognition of the human person to act as determined by themselves.

7 Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 10

15
 Now, morality is derived from the sense of duty and as acted by the goodwill of the

individual as in accordance with the categorical imperative and three formulations, the

formulations being that of Universality, Humanity/Being-as-ends-in-themselves, and Kingdom

of ends. Kant explains that duty is an action done in regards to the categorical imperative by

virtue of the action itself as stated “Duty is the necessity of an action from respect for the

law.”(GMM 4:401)8

“Thus we have established at least this much: that if duty is a concept that

is to contain significance and actual legislation for our actions, then this duty

could be expressed only in categorical imperatives, but by no means in

hypothetical ones; likewise, which is already quite a bit, we have exhibited

distinctly and for every use the content of the categorical imperative which would

have to contain the principle of all duty (if there is such a thing at all). a priori

But we are still not ready to prove that there actually is such an imperative, that

there is a practical law which commands for itself absolutely and without any

incentives, and that it is a duty to follow this law.” (GMM 4:425)9

Hypothetical imperatives are in essence the means that are utilized towards achieving an

end that in itself is good, in the case that the means undertaken are inherently contingent and

conditional that in itself do not express moral obligations but the means that are identified in line

with what is morally good and necessary. Hypothetical imperatives are the practical contingent

that allows for the means of actualizing a morally good end through morally good means that

8 Kant, 16.
9 Kant, 42.

16
rational beings identify and actualize, effects “The ends that a rational being proposes as of its

action at its discretion (material ends) are all only relative; for only their relation to a particular

kind of faculty of desire of the subject gives them their worth, which therefore can provide no

necessary principles valid universally for all rational beings and hence valid for every volition,

i.e., practical laws. Hence all these relative ends are only the ground of hypothetical

imperatives.(GMM 4:428).10

Kant’s categorical imperative sets the absolute moral law that is this unconditional

principle that is universally applicable to all rational beings regardless of the circumstances and

preferences that is universally applicable without contradiction. The categorical imperative as

Kant writes is an “Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same

time become a universal law.”(GMM 4:421)11 which sets a universal supreme principle that sets

the basis of what is moral, where the good will is aimed towards, and the role of the rational

being.

In the relationship between morality and duty Kant presents that morality is based on the

notion of duty, which is the unconditional obligation to act in accordance with the categorical

imperative, and subsequently its formulations. Morality, as presented in Kant’s moral theory, is

fundamentally the categorical imperative, and it follows that deviation from it is the parameters

of what determines an action to be moral/good. The principle of duty is the following of this

moral framework as the categorical imperative is universally binding to all rational beings. Now,

in regards to duty, Kant explains that adherence to duty is to be done without regards, or

consideration, towards personal or subjective interests, this is presented clearly as:

10 Kant, 45.
11 Kant, 37.

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 an action from duty is supposed entirely to abstract from the influence of

inclination, and with it every object of the will, so nothing is left over for the law

will that can determine it except the as what is objective and subject pure

respectively for this practical law, hence the maxim* of complying with such a

law, even when it infringes all my inclinations.

The moral worth of the action thus lies not in the effect to be expected

from it; thus also not in any principle of action which needs to get its motive from

this expected effect. For all these effects (agreeableness of one’s condition,

indeed even the furthering of the happiness of others) could be brought about

through other causes, and for them the will of a rational being. (GMM 4:401)12

The formula of universality is a central aspect of the categorical imperative and the

following cohesions with both rational beings and the other formulations. Kant presents the

formula of universality as permissibility of an action insofar as it is, and only if it is, consistently

willed as a universal law through all rational beings, “Act only in accordance with that maxim

through which you can at the same time become a universal law.”(GMM 4:421) 13. Kant presents

that the morality of an action is determined by the maxim that pushes it to fruition, in the case

that it is universally consistent with all rational beings, in short that it must be universalizable

with no contradiction or degradation of the rational being. The formulation of universality is in a

sense a test of determining the morality or goodness of an action.

12 Kant, 16.
13 Kant, 37.

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 Because the universality of the law in accordance with which effects

happen constitutes that which is really called nature in most general sense (in

accordance with tis form), i.e., the existence of things insofar as it is determined

in accordance with universal laws, thus the universal imperative of duty can also

be stated as follows: So act as if the maxim of your action were to become

through your will a universal law of nature.(GMM 4:421).14

The formulation of humanity or being-as-end-in-itself is an acknowledgement of the

inherent non-negotiable value of the rational being to not be reduced or regarded as a means to

an end but as being that determines their own ends. Kant in the formula of humanity recognizes

the unique autonomy and self-determining nature of the human rational being and it follows that

in a community of other rational beings with their own respective ability to self-determine, how

does it reconcile the autonomy of the self and the other without compromising the inherent value.

It is here that this ability of rational beings to self-determine requires an active universal

principle that acknowledges and respects the rational being, this places the human person by its

sheer fact that its inherent value is subject to Kant's morality and ethical system.

The human being necessarily represents his own existence in this way thus to that extent

it is a subjective principle of human actions. But every other rational being also represents his

existence in this way as consequent on the same rational ground as is valid for me;* Thus it is at

the same time an objective principle, from which, as a supreme practical ground, all laws of the

will must be able to be derived. The practical imperative will thus be the following: Act so that

you use humanity, as much in your own person as in the person of every other, always at the

14 Kant, 38.

19
same time as end and never merely as means. We will see whether this can be accomplished.

(GMM 4:429)15 page 47

Kant presents the formula of kingdom-of-ends which refers to the state in which all

rational beings recognize and act in accordance with the categorical imperative. The rational

being as a moral agent is duty bound to recognizes the autonomy and act accordingly to promote

self-determining action for as long as it is inline with the categorical imperative “Accordingly,

every rational being must act as if it were through its maxims always a legislative member in a

universal realm of ends.” (GMM 4;439)16 Kingdom of ends dictates the outcome of a society

that the moral law of the categorical imperative is universally accepted and followed by all

rational beings.

“Now it incontestably follows from this that every rational being, as an

end in itself, would have to be able to regard itself at the same time as universally

legislative in regard to all laws to which it may be subject, because precisely this

suitableness of its maxims for the universal legislation designates it as an end in

itself, just as the fact that this dignity (prerogative) before all mere beings of

nature brings with it to have to take its maxims always from its own point of view

but also at the same time from that of every other rational being as a universally

legislative being (which is why they are also called ‘persons’).” (GMM 4;439)17

“….Such a realm of ends would actually be brought about through

maxims, the rule of which is prescribed by the categorical imperatives of all

rational beings, if they were universally followed.” (GMM 4;439)18

15 Kant, 47.
16 Kant, 37.
17 Kant, 56.
18 Kant, 56.

20
 CHAPTER 3

The discussion will now progress towards the points of determining the state of self-

actualization and self-determination within the parameters of the discussion on Kant’s

categorical imperative. Now regarding the points discussed that will be relevant in this chapter:

(a) Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression is a fundamental aspect of the person’s

personhood, (b) the categorical imperative allows for the universalization of maxims regardless

of Kant’s moral theory, and (c) maxims universalized, or anything applied towards the

categorical imperative, must have an enforceable end to avoid the practical contradiction. The

overall direction moving forward shall be the argument and discussion towards the integral link

that Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity towards self-determination and self-

actualization within Kant’s formulation of universality.

It is important to first discuss the conception of freedom of Kant in understanding what is

applicable and the deliberation of how it is a fundamental aspect of personhood. Helga Varden is

a contemporary writer of Kant that talks about this personhood and freedom in her work titled A

Feminist, Kantian Conception Of The Right To Bodily Integrity where she discusses this very

idea of freedom, formulation of universality, and bodily autonomy that proves to very integral in

forwarding this thesis. Now, Kant and Varden talk about the human being as embodied freedom

and from which extends, and inherently applies, the categorical imperative in all its formulations,

the focus here is to link and argue that within this embodied freedom inherent within the human

person both by virtue of humanity and the spatiotemporal body, meaning the material/physical

body, within the Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity of the individual.19

19 Varden, 36-37.

21
 The argument will now follow the fact of the human being as an embodied freedom that

exists both in the conception of the individual and the spatio-temporal aspect of existence, this

shall be the basis of the non negotiability of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity

as a inherent part of the human person’s actualization and determination as identified and

actualized.20 Now, the human person as embodied freedom ultimately places all human beings

with an inherent right towards their personal identified end, be it in terms of purpose or choice,

that is only justifiable for as long as it does not conflict with the practical contradiction within

the categorical imperative and does not reduce the freedom of another human being

The embodied freedom here is first and foremost an integral and inherent part of the

personhood of the individual that cannot, and must not, be reduced in any way whatsoever

except within a mutual recognition of by partners or by a state. It is here that recognition of such

a freedom it follows that the individual is bound towards their right of their own identified and

determined end, this follows with the formulation of humanity, or being-as-end-in-itself, within

what is conflicting with the formulation of universality. 21 This follows that Sexual Orientation

Gender Expression and Identity as a freedom inherent and as the actualized will with an

enforceable end is something that cannot be restricted or prejudiced against by individual or by

state under the fact of restriction of the person’s freedom and free will under a Kantian

perspective.

“...In short, coercively preventing, including criminalizing, homosexual

interaction involves denying the homosexual persons sole control over their own

20 Varden, 37.
21 Varden, 47.

22
 bodies and thus also their persons. Instead, it permits homophobic person the

right to determine how other persons should use their own bodies, which is to

deny interaction in a way consistent with an individual’s innate right to

freedom”22

The following discussion evolves now into the determining what does Kant’s Categorical

Imperative’s Formulation of Universality’s role in refining the definition of Sexual Orientation

Gender Expression and Identity in the context of actualizing. It is now time to return towards

Korsgaard’s discussion of the Formulation of Universality through the Practical Contradiction

Interpretation. The rational will of the human person regards itself as the causal agent that

identifies a connection between the purpose and action of an identified maxim, this shall be in

this context Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, that this identified connection

for as long as it is reasoned and sufficient in its tanding can be willed to be a universalizable

maxim.23

It follows from here that it is important to treat the human being’s individual capacity as

an agent of will to be as such that as an autonomous rational being, “I” must act on the

conception of the universalized maxim for as long as its connection of its action and purpose is

upheld; (a) The connection being the inextricably and inherent link between the individual as a

agent of will and embodied freedom to self-actualize and self-determine themselves as seen fit,

(b) the action here shall be the physical or non-physical means of expression and identity, and (c)

22 Varden, 47.
23 Christine M. Korsgaard, "Kant's Formula of Universal Law," Creating the Kingdom of Ends, 1996, 1,
doi:10.1017/cbo9781139174503.004.

23
that the purpose of the very actualization of the individual’s identified Sexual Orientation Gender

Expression and Identity. These is sufficiently shortened by Christine Korsgaard herself:

“….The Rational will, regarding itself as a causality, models its conception on

a law on a causal law. As a rational being you may take the connection between

a purpose you hold and an action that would promote it be the reason that you

perform the action, but this connection must be universalizable if the reason is

sufficient.”24

The discussion then moves on to discussing while this line of argument that it is centered

on the individual human person but how does it extend towards the community-society-state? It

is here that the need to discuss the Hypothetical Imperatives and Imperfect Duties come center

towards concepts that are conditional integral in order to secure such a maxim of Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity to not only be enforceable but integral to

personhood. Now we are moving towards the third point of discussion where we must tackle on

how can Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression be universalized, or anything

applied towards the categorical imperative, attaining/having an enforceable end to avoid the

practical contradiction; this is can only be plausible through the recognition of conditional laws

that allow for such.

“…Perfect duties are contrary to that which is contradictory in conception;

imperfect duties contrary to that which is consistent in conception but

nevertheless contradictory in will.25 (G, 4: 424:)”

24 Korsgaard, "short title," xx.

25 Kant, short title, xx.

24
 The identification of such a conditions law will be the imperfect duty of mutual aid/others

from which only from such conditional parameters that security of the self and the other can be

manifested and ensure the protection of such freedoms. 26 Security is a concept and a practice that

is mutually beneficial but is conditional, unlike perfect duties that are dependent on the self as

the moral and just agent, imperfect duties require conditional ends that treat other human beings

as means to an end, but this is only applicable if there exist a mutual reduction of freedom from

individual-individual, or in short a social contract in recognition of such a reduction, in this case

the recognition of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity through social and legal

means.27

The next area to expand to is discussing what are Natural and Conventional actions and

where does Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity lie between the two. Kant, and

namely Christine Korsaard greatly elaborates on this, discusses two main concepts of actions that

are important in identifying the context and nuance of a maxim and its universalizability and

with this there are two types: (a) Natural Actions are actions that occur and we as human beings

perform automatically without any conscious or deliberate process, this is the case of instinct or

habitual action such as eating, walking, and breathing, and (b) Conventional Actions that actions

done based on established social norms and paradigms that originate from cultural contexts and

social expectations, this ultimately is linked towards any form of law or rules that are informally

and formally promulgated, now, here have to acknowledge the discussion of Kory Schaff’s

26 Kant, 14.
27 Varden, 48.

25
deliberation on sexuality and the freedom embodied by man:

…Again, transcendental freedom allows us to adopt a reflexive position

regarding these biologically determined functions. But it isn’t clear why so many

constraints are placed upon sexual activity(and identity), since it is only natural

that individuals involved in it reduce themselves mutually to mere things, thus

avoiding the charge of mere use.28

28 Kory Schaff, "Kant, Political Liberalism, and the Ethics of Same-Sex Relations," Journal of Social Philosophy
32, no. 3 (2001): 451, doi:10.1111/0047-2786.00106.

26
 CHAPTER 4

Kantian ethics is fundamentally different from types of teleological and consequence

based ethics in that it focuses on the ends used rather than the consequence/end of an action or

decision. Kantian ethics revolves around its universality and reason that is true in all cases

regardless of culture, origin, or moral disposition because it is formed by the goodwill, duty, and

universality of maxims in order to build an ethical framework. Kant focuses on the good will as

that reason bound by the universal good in the means to act and decide; the good will and

universal good are central towards the notion of duty since it is duty that acts in the universal

good and good will that makes an action a duty.

The categorical imperatives are divided into three formulations consisting of

Universality, Man as being-as-ends, and Kingdom of ends that constitute the framework of

ethical action. The universality principle dictates that all decisions, actions, and choices are to be

placed as maxims to be willed as a universal principle with no conditions for exceptions to be

made towards an action.29 The being-of-ends is that all human beings are to be treated towards

their autonomy and self-determination to which the individual is never to be treated as a means

of attaining an end but as ends-in-themselves that determine their own self-determined end. The

last formula is that of Kingdom of ends where it is to be treated as the all are bound by universal

laws to act in which all beings are to be treated as ends and never means to which will create a

kingdom wherein all participate within the universal good, duty, and good will. 30

Kantian ethics focus on the Categorical Imperatives in order to observe man produced

29 Kant, AK 4:401, 16.

30 Kant, AK 4:403, 18.

27
moral and ethical framework that is true in all instances and showcases complex systems that are

to be observed as absolute. Kantian deontological ethics is an example of an all encompassing

framework with no compromise of autonomy and freedom is something that is often overlooked

in light of a simple utilitarian approach in decision making; this relatively non compromising

system is given power through its basis on the universal good based on that produced by reason

and respect towards self-determination of humanity. Overall, this ethical and moral framework is

extremely difficult to practice in a real setting but is not impossible if all were to adhere to as that

linked to the kingdom of ends formula of the categorical imperative.

Now, Kant within a contemporary context and with Christine Korsgaard’s

deliberation on the Categorical Imperative’s formulation of Universality in her work titled Kant's

Formula of Universal Law. In this she discusses specifically on the idea of contradiction of

universalization of a maxim and the discussion that while immoral a maxim can still be in line

with the categorical imperative; this can be further discussed to an extent towards the fact

whether the action to be done fulfills its end or not in direct relation to the ability to come into

fruition in the first place i.e. its ability to be, or lack thereof, to be enforceable, which will be

deliberated in this paper in order to form the basis of a Kantian framework and conception of

freedom, self-actualization, and self-determination in support of Sexual Orientation Gender

Expression and Identity or SOGIE.31

One of her key contributions, namely, is her discussion of Kant's principle of

universality, which is also known as one of the three formulations of the categorical imperative.

The principle of universality is absolutely central within Kantian deontological ethics and

31 Korsgaard,"Contradictions in Conception and in the Will," 24.

28
morality, morality is to be deliberated further here, that a maxim or action is morally permissible

if the maxim behind the actualized action can be willed to be a universal law without

contradiction.32 It is here that Kant is clear but inconsistent in his application of such maxim

through his works in The Foundations and The Groundworks of the Metaphysics of Morals

wherein it is also stated that an action can be inline with the categorical imperative but still

remain as immoral; but in essence an action is morally acceptable if it is enforceable and can be

willed in the first place without conflicting with the three identified contradictions. 33

Kant’s ideation of his ethical and moral theory has emphasized, and even legitimized, the

condemnation of any form of deviation from the established heteronormative relationships –the

entrenched patriarchal gender norms that is precipitated in traditional gender roles– Kant here

tackle same sex relationships in the light of his argumentation of the necessity, and fundamental

adherence. Kant views same-sex relationships, but this also extends towards aspects integral

towards Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, strictly in sexual context which he

later terms such acts as crimina carnis which places such acts of sexual and gender deviation as

something inherently against human nature.34

The universality principle, and formula, is not just a technical rule for moral decision-

making, but a fundamental feature of reason and rationality itself through which this principle is

what distinguishes moral actions that stem from the good will, and of conditional action. 35 It is

important to also note in the development of this that it is absolutely necessary for the human

32 Kant, GMM, 20.

33 Korsgaard, "Contradictions in Conception and in the Will," 25.
34 Schaff, "short title," 453.
35 Korsgaard, "The Practical Contradiction Interpretation," 20.

29
agent to be able to justify their actions to themselves and others, in order to avoid the Practical

contradiction of interpretation. Kant's concept of autonomy is an integral discussion point in

forwarding our ability to recognize and argue in favor of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression

and Identity or SOGIE. Kant in his discussion, and later Korsgaard with her interpretation,

defines autonomy as the ability to give oneself moral laws, rather than being subject to the laws

of others, from which the being is able to identify their own ends and actualize it as seen fit and

enforceable.36 Korsgaard argues that the universality principle, and thus following Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity or SOGIE, is an expression of this autonomy,

because it requires the moral agent to give themselves laws that can be applied universally and

can be enforced/actualized practically within the material conditions.

Autonomy and the other is an important note to discuss as Kant and many Kantian

contemporaries within the modern period discuss the limits and possibilities when it comes to the

individual’s inherent freedom, with this we shall discuss on both Helga Varden’s conception of

personhood as embodied freedom, and Jennifer Nelson’s Kantian ontological personalism. Now,

with Varden’s she places that Kant maintains that freedom is something that is absolutely innate

within the human being, although with some consideration. The individuals right to their

inherent freedom, be it by principle and ability of self-determination, are integral towards Kant's

metaethics.

“…Persons are embodied beings, which means that the limits of freedom insofar

as we are persons must be extended to us insofar as we are embodied. …

36 Korsgaard, "Practical Contradictions," 22.

30
 restrictions on homosexual activity we are considering are restrictions on what

we can do with our own bodies, enforcing unjustifiable restrictions on

homosexual activity and abortions denies homosexuals and women a right to

freedom.”37

Now, with regards to Jennifer Nelson’s Kantian ontological personalism it picks up onto

this principle of an inherent freedom afforded to the human person by sheer fact of humanity.

The very nature of their humanity they are recognized intrinsically as a person. Here Nelson

points to the fact that Kant’s lack or vague conception of personhood in regards to whether it is

inherent by biological fact or attained by social causes, it simply dictates personhood with

humanity:

“This idea cannot be empirical functionalism, because not everyone sees the

world the same way. On this viewpoint, what makes us persons is the value of

each perception, and Kant says we all have common ground.”38

“…This formula gives humans inherent value. Each individual is valued, not on

what they can do, but on that fact that they are persons. Treating them as means

to an end does not give them the individual freedom they deserve. Treating them

as an end in itself looks at what would be best for that person.”39

Now the main point here moving on is does Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

37 Varden, "Right to Bodily Integrity," 36.

38 Nelson, "Human Personhood from a Kantian Perspective," 2.
39 Nelson, "Human Personhood from a Kantian Perspective," 3.

31
Identity, that including the physical and non-physical means of actualizing and determining,

alongside sexual and platonic relationships, conflict with being a universalizable maxim, the

quick answer is no it does not but the long answer goes as follows. The human person, as

discussed, shall be recognized under the Kantian conception of personhood as embodied freedom

and is as an agent of will that can both identify and take action and the means to self-actualize

and self-determine. A maxim universalized must be practically enforceable by ensuring that the

intentions and purpose is in line with the action that transpires, this is true both as the human

person as rational agent of will. The agent by fact of will and embodied freedom can undertake

the identification and actualization of a universal maxim so long as the connection between the

action/means taken and the purpose/end of the identified maxim is strong.

32
 CHAPTER 5

The volatile state of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, specifically

those identifying with the LGBTQIA+ community, within the Philippines is still up for avid

contention from the political, cultural, and religious groups due to the issue of the predominant

and entrenched Judeo-Christian-Islamic patriarchal state of beliefs that uphold a deep place

within Filipino society. The individuals who identify themselves accordingly towards their

Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity face much discrimination and is a heavily

sensitive point of discussion within the family and community, although it is important to

recognize the many steps forward taken in recent years, there still exist a thriving place of

prejudice within the country that ultimately affects and limits many Filipinos towards restrictive,

prejudicial, and harmful conformity in order to avoid discrimination, prosecution, and

harassment from their respective area of living.

The Philippines is a secular democratic republican state wherein sovereignty lies with the

Filipino people but there exists a greatly active religious institution and community that holds

great sway within politics, society, and legislation. There exist a clear pervading role of the

largely catholic church in the runnings of the state, politics, and legislation, while good in

intention ultimately pseudo-negates the state's duty for a secular running in terms of legislation

and the execution of laws; it is important to note that while the Philippines is home to a diverse

plethora of religions namely the roman catholic church, and its various sects, and the Islam, both

Sunni and Shia sects respectively. The Islamic presence outside of the Bangsamoro Autonomous

State of Muslim Mindanao in the realm of mainstream politics and society, is a minority in

contrast with the Roman Catholic majority.

33
 Over 80 percent of the Philippine population is Roman Catholic, with an additional nine

percent belonging to Protestant churches. Only eight percent comprise non-Christian

faiths (Library of Congress - Federal Research Division, 2006). Therefore, the teachings

of the Roman Catholic Church pervade. The position of the Roman Catholic Church on

LGBT persons is to love the sinner yet hate the sin.28,29 The church opposes efforts to

provide legal protection for LGBT Filipinos, In August 2013, CBCO Executive Fr.

Melvin Castro stressed that the Church’s position on homosexuality is to fully embrace

gays and lesbians, but same-sex relationships and same-sex unions are unacceptable. At

the same time, the Media Office of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines

note that the “church won’t tolerate same-sex marriage”; it believes that being LGBT is

a choice and that it could be changed.3040

Now, without downplaying the vital role of religion in the formation of the individual-

community as a merely reductive black and white matter but it must be admitted that the

religious texts and connotations, as largely socially practiced and accepted, it has largely bred

hard traditionalists and hard right wing politicians holding entrenched positions of political will

and power over all levels of state runnings. It is important to note that the political sides of the

left and right are loosely held with a mostly interchangeable politicians that are often identified

by a contemporary term as “Balimbing” politicians that shift from party to party and will

champion policy that would be unusual within the party that the align themselves with —an

example of a traditionally liberal party like Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan being

a supposed democratic and socialist left wing centered party having members like previous

40 UNESCO, Global guidance on addressing school-related gender-based violence (Paris: UNESCO Publishing,
2016), 30.

34
president Rodrigo Roa Duterte that pushed for censorship, political detainees like the likes of

Leila Delima, and an extrajudicial war on drugs which are greatly against the supposed

alignment of the party— this overall showcasing a deep disconnect with the existence of a real

opposition except for a few.41 Now, let us progress after this short digress, in regards towards the

main point which is that these types of entrenched political powers within all levels of

government, specifically in the legislative, prove to be a real resistance against the passing and

drafting of any legislation that challenges the established status quo of gender roles, sexuality,

and social practices, in this case that of the refusal of the accreditation of Ang Ladlad:

On occasion, religion is mentioned in the drafting of laws and policies. In 2009,

when Ang Ladlad was refused accreditation by the COMELEC to run in the May

2010 elections, it stated that the LGBT party-list “tolerates immorality which

offends religious beliefs” .31 The COMELEC also specifically cited verses in the

Bible and in the Koran to justify its refusal to accredit Ang Ladlad. Some

Protestant churches, such as the Iglesia Ni Cristo32, are considered more

fundamentalist and condemn homosexual acts and identities within their

congregations42

The strong collectivist nature of philippine society alongside its deeply entrenched

patriarchal judeo-christian-islamic proves to be a great force of pressuring those who have

identified their respective Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, although
41 Carl H. Lande, "Political Clientelism, Developmentalism and Postcolonial Theory," Taylor & Francis, last
modified April 18, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1080/01154451.2002.9754237.
42 UNDP and USAID, "Being LGBT in Asia: The Philippine Country Report | United Nations Development
Programme," UNDP, last modified 2014, https://www.undp.org/publications/being-lgbt-asia-philippine-country-
report.

35
specifically towards the LGBTQIA+ community, to adhere and compromise to traditionally set

gender norms which proves to be greatly detrimental towards Feminist/Women empowerment

movements and the LGBTQIA+ community

There also exist Christian “ex-gay movements” offering “reparative therapies”33 in the

Philippines. This practice – the idea that one can change one’s sexual orientation

through therapy – is widely denounced by LGBT communities that stress that sexual

orientation cannot be changed, and fear psychological damage for those undergoing

such “therapy.” Courage Philippines, for instance, attempts to provide “spiritual

support for men and women with same-sex attractions” so they can “live chaste lives in

accordance with the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality”.34 Most

LGBT communities believe that a sexual life is healthy and normal (as it is for

heterosexual people) and that if you are homosexual, you should not have to abstain

from sex in order to conform with the belief that sex between people of the same gender

is wrong.43

These prejudices enter their way into the legal system where restrictive and biased means

of addressing individuals with respect to their Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity

is either disregarded or handled poorly despite many efforts by politicians, activists, and

advocates of the highly contested SOGIE Equality Bill. Sexual Orientation Gender Expression

and Identity is a fundamental, and inherent, aspect of the individual human being’s identity that

encompasses many parts of their physical, the persons presentation of themselves through

physical means such as, but not limited to, means of dressing, cosmetics, and accessories, and

43 UNDP and USAID.

36
also through non-physical means such as names, mannerism, and behavior. and non-physical

being, the individual person’s internal feelings and experience that their existing biological

gender assigned at birth does not correspond with themselves by personal sense of their body in

which the person undertakes chosen modification of body.

The overall progress of the points discussed and deliberated within the past few chapters

has culminated in the formation of these points of discussion here in this chapter. The human

person is embodied freedom and is as a agent of will that can identify and act out the means to

self-actualize and self-determine. The maxim universalized must be in the first place be

practically enforceable by ensuring that the intentions and intended purpose is in line with the

action that transpires, this is true both as the human person as rational agent of will and in terms

of the state as true to its obligation to its constituents. The agent can undertake the identification

and actualization of a universal maxim so long as the connection between the action/means taken

and the purpose/end of the identified maxim is strong. The connection here shall mean the

relevancy between of the action/means utilized and the purpose/end that is identified,

Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity as an identified universalizable

maxim for the individual is true, again within the context of the individual’s acting out of their

person, from which the identified purpose, which is the fulfillment of the self’s identified Sexual

Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, and the action, that of actualizing themselves

through physical and non-physical means, is universalizable by fact of non practical

contradiction and as an act of embodied freedom. Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity does not conflict with Kant’s Moral Theory for as long that in both sexual, relational,

legal, and social are mutually in a social contract that makes aware the fundamental cooperation

37
with the reduction of the other, as this is also true for anyone within a state, but in the context of

the individual’s Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity it is imperative of the

recognition and actualization of such by individual and state. The role of the state, community,

and individual is integral in this mutual recognition of the reduction of the person as a being of

ends but also a means of attaining a mutually beneficial source of security to pursue each

person's respective freedom without ultimately reducing one another to bare means and not as a

being of ends. This is better stated by Helga Varden in regards to homosexual relationships, this

is fundamental part of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, though focused

merely on same sex relationships concerning sexual relations, but it sets the precipice of the role

of the state.

“A “de facto” state thereby fails to set itself up as a public authority, for it fails

to represent each of its citizens and yet no one in particular, since it posits and

enforces laws (or the lack thereof) laws that fail to treat each citizen as having an

innate right to freedom. Thus , the state forces homosexual persons to stay in the

pre-state condition, or the so-called “state of nature” and, indeed, in a

particularly barbaric or brutal version thereof, namely, one in which there is no

respect for their persons as such. Hence, homosexual are not obliged to obey

such laws, but must defend themselves, even against the state, as best they can.” 44

In the context of the failure of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity being

recognized in the legal sense, and even the social/community sense, ultimately fails the

democratic republican foundations that form the nation due to the failure to recognize all sectors

44 Varden, "Homosexual Activities: Rightful Restriction," 47.

38
of society. The prejudice, be it state, community, or individual, placed upon with the intent of

restriction of SOGIE peoples ultimate takeaway the inherent freedom Failure of the state or

society to recognize SOGIE will place individuals in a state outside of the state and into a state of

nature that entails a subhuman status, this being a fundamental aspect of Kant's ethical and moral

theories.

Now, let us move to the concluding points of discussion, both the human person, by all

rights inherent within bare fact of humanity, and Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and

Identity, as the inherent part of personhood, provide the grounds for discussion regarding a much

needed approach towards reevaluating the current set legislation in order to fit the ever dynamic

nature of the human person. In discussion on Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity

it is important to derive its validity, at least in the context of this paper, to argue that the human

person as recognized by philosophical framework set by the above discussed chapters and the

legal recognition of the human person through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as

recognized by the Philippines’ constitution and legislation that provides the basis of an

interconnected and interdependent self-checking system of providing a holistic yet secular means

of securing the interests of the human person in terms of Sexual Orientation Gender Expression

and Identity.

On 25 September 2013, 24 LGBT organizations joined a consultation to develop an

ADB. The gathering was headed by TLF SHARE Collective in cooperation with the

Office of Sen. Bam Aquino. In the Lower House, Dinagat Rep. Kaka Bag-ao and Ifugao

Rep. Teddy Baguilat are the authors of the 2013 measures that protect LGBT rights.

39
 More recently, in October 2013, two pro-LGBT bills were filed in Congress. Rep. Sol

Aragones filed HB 2572 to amend RA 8551 (Philippine National Police Reform and

Reorganization Act of 1998).11 The bill seeks to establish an LGBT desk in police

stations to attend to cases involving members of the LGBT community. Meanwhile, Albay

Rep. Edcel Lagman Jr. filed HB 3179 to govern property ownership by cohabiting same-

sex couples. The bill would allow same-sex couples to decide whether to co-own the

properties they acquire while living together, or to maintain single exclusive ownership. 45

Cases like these show the great lack of a nationally recognized law protecting the

LGBTQIA+ community but actively holds laws that are detrimental and hold negative

connotations towards SOGI and thus exploitation of LGBTIA community through the legal

system is not only apparent but not uncommon.

In the absence of national legislation, some ordinances in local government units

(LGUs)12 mandate protection from discrimination on the basis of SOGI. Quezon City

passed an ordinance banning employment-related discrimination in 2003, while anti-

discrimination ordinances (ADOs) were passed in the cities of Angeles, Cebu, Bacolod

and Davao. ADOs seem an achievable advocacy target for LGBT groups, with an

important symbolic effect though since the first one was enacted only late in 2012 (in

Cebu), it is hard to gauge practical results.46

45 UNDP and USAID, "short title."

46 UNDP and USAID, "short title."

40
 The lack of a national recognition of SOGIE, and subsequently the lgbtqia community,

allows for local-private institutions and businesses to discriminate following suit that local to

national level courts dismiss the severity of action if it implicates LGBTQIA and SOGI. The lack

of a comprehensive national and social recognition and safeguards are detrimental to its

LGBTQIA+ community exaggerate the clear need for a legal recognition for SOGIE and its

community

Several private establishments also implement discriminatory policies without legal

sanctions. In 2000, a complaint was filed by the Gay Movement for Human Rights in the

Philippines on behalf of Jonathan Agudaña, who was not allowed to enter a club in Cebu

City for wearing women’s clothes. The club defended itself by saying that it does not

discriminate against gay people, but it does not allow cross-dressing in its premises. The

case was dismissed in 2001 (Sasot, 2012a) and was not taken seriously. More recent

cases involved Inday Garutay and BB Gandanghari who were restricted from entering a

restaurant in Metro Manila in 2006 and 2009, respectively, also because of a “no cross-

dressing” policy, another example of discrimination. The case resolution released by the

Commission on Human Rights on 11 January 2001 stated that the club “engaged in a

legitimate business endeavor, has all the prerogative to adopt rules and regulations to

ensure the protection and satisfaction of customers. Adoption of a dress code falls under

this prerogative” (IGLHRC, 2001).47

The lack of a comprehensive national and social recognition and safeguards are detrimental to its

LGBTQIA+ community exaggerate the clear need for a legal recognition for sogie and its

community

47 UNDP and USAID, "short title."

41
 The belief in the predatory nature of LGBT people is also an issue in the Philippines. The

“gay panic defense” is occasionally mentioned in cases involving gay men. In June

2011, TV director Ricky Rivero was stabbed 17 times after he allegedly attempted to

sexually abuse the man who stabbed him and left him for dead.20 In Bacolod City in May

2012, Dr. Andres Gumban Jr. was murdered, with the killing recorded on video by the

suspects who alleged that the victim attempted to have sex with them.21 Meanwhile,

some lesbians are charged with kidnapping by the families of their partners. For

instance, in 2000, Zorayda Jumaani was accused of kidnapping a former beauty queen in

Davao City, despite her claims that they were engaged in a lesbian relationship.48

The issue extends to academic institutions that greatly affect society from the initial

engagements with peer and authority level that greatly determines the young person's ability

towards SOGIE and perspective on how views are to held and applied in relations to social

norms that are often at the school as an institution, faculty, and peer level community present to

the student. The lack of a systemic, comprehensive and holistic recognition of SOGIE ultimately

proves to be detrimental towards the formation of the individual within the educational setting

The participants of the national dialogue raised other examples of barriers experienced

by LGBT Filipinos in educational institutions, including the gender-insensitivity of the

existing curriculum; a culture of bullying42,43; and the existence of anti-LGBT policies,

e.g. required haircuts and masculinity tests conducted by some schools (McElhill, 2006).

There were even instances when LGBT people were made to sign “contracts” to ensure

48 UNDP and USAID, "short title."

42
 they did not express their sexual orientation or gender identity,44 an imposition on one’s

sense of self not required by those whose SOGI conforms to society’s expectations.49

the academic institution under the guise of academic freedom at times prove to be greatly

restrictive and oppressive towards students but discussing the academic system is a whole

discussion that will ultimately sidetrack this paper so for time and limits let is surmise that

towards the implications of the lack of SOGIE recognition and the detrimental effect towards

student that align themselves with the LGBTQIA+ community, SOGIE, and students that are

hardened towards upholding oppressive and dangerous ideas that can become manifest directly

and indirectly

Kant's Categorical Imperative provides for a universally available and coherent system of

principles that comes across as a universal principle that masses has easy and coherent access to

even if there exist variation, although it will vary drastically, in order for the reason and objective

principles of justice based on this universal foundation of an absolute objective truth, to be based

on the form of a universal secular maxim with intricacies and application partnered with legal

positivism’s ability to provide the feasible praxis and application. It also provides universal

applicability and practicality that can encompass all societies, legal systems, moral frameworks

and cultures in a structured and applicable universal maxim and system.

This would include the Formulation of Universality based on reason and logic to be

universally flexible and applicable as done through comprehensive and situation based on both

formal laws, that set by the state, and casual laws, that which a personal maxim, within the

49 UNDP and USAID, "short title."

43
contexts of its legislation for Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, with the

fundamental guidance on the inherent absoluteness of the human person as embodied freedom

but recognizes the warrant for mutual reduction of freedom insofar as it provides a mutual

security towards all free beings. In example we can turn to the Universal Declaration Of Human

Rights by the United Nations as an example of universally reasoned maxim in line with the

Formula of Universality and Formula of Humanity/Being-as-ends-in-itself that is then adopted

and made situation specific, and legislated in recognition of the inherent universal value of all

beings, and the extension of a executive arm that can act out the mandates of this within a

localized version within the Philippines

It is clear that within the Philippines the need for a national recognition of the plight of

the Filipino people, and the LGBTQIA+ individuals, of the prevalence and need for a national

recognition and enactment of the SOGIE bill in its duty as a democratic republican state that

holds a duty to recognize its citizens and their respective sectors alongside its duty as well to

honor their status as both member and signatory of the Universal Declaration of human rights

through bills like the Anti-Discrimination Bill or the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill and Bill 1483 or An Act Defining Discrimination on the Basis

of Sexual orientation and gender identity and Providing Penalties Therefor

The base fundamental categorical imperative as Kantian ethics provides does not

specifically provide a set of in depth discussions when it comes to SOGIE within the

contemporary setting. But, Kant’s moral and ethical philosophy holds that the categorical

imperative emphasizes as absolute the treating of all rational beings as ends within themselves.

44
This follows that the individual human person as a rational being should not be reduced to

objectification, manipulation, and exploitation regardless of reason, thus following that of their

SOGIE.

The universalizability is absolutely necessary for any maxim to be not only applicable but

also in adherence to the categorical imperative, and it follows that moral principles that dictated

by its universalizability, recognition of being-as-ends, and kingdom-of-ends are not in conflict

with the principle and concept of the individual’s SOGIE by virtue of the universalizability of

the right to self-determine themselves as seen fit. It is important to mention that the failure to

recognize and protect those who’s SOGIE does not conventionally fit into traditional norms, as

set by in context of the Philippines, ultimately disregards the inherent value of the rational being

and places them in a state of outside the law, therefore unprotected by the rights inherent within

them. Furthermore, it is by the very nature of both the human person and the categorical

imperative that any form of discrimination or marginalization of a person based on their

identified SOGIE is ultimately inconsistent with Kant’s moral theory and ethical framework.

In conclusion, Kant’s approach to Sexual Orientation Gender Expression and Identity, as

presented in his works in both general philosophy and moral theory, does not set specific

parameters when it comes to dealing with SOGIE. While it is discussed, in terms of

homosexuality, it is ultimately not inline with the parameters set by categorical imperative and

subsequently his moral theory. SOGIE for all intents and purposes sets the recognition and active

approach towards the treating of the rational being with respect and dignity through the

45
universalizing of moral principles that is to regard the human person as all equally united and

recognized within their rights to autonomy.

Now, Kant’s categorical imperative ultimately sets and emphasizes the integral principle

of treating individuals as ends in themselves as stated in the formulation of humanity, rather than

as means to an end. Kant’s categorical imperative does not deny but upholds that the individual

person as a rational agent holds within themselves the uncontested right to self-determine and

self-actualize, including that of their sexual orientation, gender expression, or identity by basis

that this is treated as a universalizable maxim of the individual’s choice.

Additionally, SOGIE as a fact that is inherently part of the individual, be it in what is

traditionally set and those that deviate, is a principle based within the fact of the rational being’s

personhood and autonomy. SOGIE therefore is the individual’s ability to self-determination and

self-actualization as seen fit by the rational agent. The idea and practice of discrimination against

the individual based on their SOGIE infringes on the rights inherent within the individual by fact

that this reduces the individual as a freedom and ability towards their self-determination. Kant’s

philosophy and ethics, while admittedly contradictorily expounded by kant in his previous and

later works, sets an fundamental point that protects the individual as a rational being from being

reduced in any means, in this case that of reduction of avenues for the individual to self-

determine and self-actualize.

46
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