Defensor Santiago magnified the issues concerning the LGBT community before the Senate. In the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting, she said in a Twitter post, "The mass shooting at a club in Orlando is appalling and heartbreaking" and "I long for the day when the LGBT community no longer has to live in fear of discrimination and hate crimes". Defensor Santiago was one of the senators who advocated the immediate investigation of the Jennifer Laude case, wherein the American marine, Joseph Scott Pemberton, killed Laude, a Filipina transgender woman, in Subic, Zambales. She also supported the passage of the anti-discrimination bill (SOGIE Equality Bill) which protects the rights of people of different sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression. She was the first senator in Philippine history to push for the bill's legislation, filing it repeatedly since 2000.