The whole setup appears to be for noise immunity or threshold control; it will need a significant voltage at either input before the transistor starts to conduct.
The input diodes drop some voltage, D9 means there is a significant base to 0V current via the 2k2 at anything over about 0.6V on the base, meaning something like 25:1 voltage division from the input, and the the 2.5V ref in the emitter circuits so over 3V at the base before it starts to conduct..