IS MARRIAGE FOR EVERYONE?

It has been announced recently that popular party-list Gabriela will be filing a bill

approving same-sex marriage in the country in the near future. Same-sex marriage, the unity of

a homosexual couple legally under the constitution, have stirred controversy and turned heads

once it was introduced to the Filipino community. It is, however, already legal in several

countries and states, including several states in the United States of America, France,

Argentina, and even in Portugal and Spain. The LGBT Filipinos, a growing community and most

certainly one of the powerful ones, has been campaigning for the right to be treated equally as

the normal citizen, thus including a petition regarding the acceptance of same sex couples—and

eventually, their union under the law.

It is without a doubt a very risqué move, what with the majority of the Filipinos being

Roman Catholic and traditional, usually bashing things or acts that are out of the normal, like

things considered taboo which includes man-to-man and woman-to-woman relationships.

But since the LGBT are slowly rising to power, it is not an impossibility that a bill like this

could be passed. However, it is more of the acceptance that is the problem, rather than the

implementation.

A person against this bill may argue that homosexual marriage defies the laws of nature

and is anti-creation. This is not true, although biologically the second statement kind of seems

so. Who dictates the laws of nature anyway? It is but man that dictated the Family Code that

says that marriage is only for a man and a woman. And such family code was written by

religious groups. Does this not seem unfair? It is but a matter of religious belief, and not written

under the constitution as a law. It is not the work of God, but instead a construct of man. It is but

a Filipino social construct that demands that a marriage be between a male and a female.
 A second argument may be that, for instance, the homosexual couple decides to adopt a

child because they cannot create one, the child will not be raised properly. Is a child under the

care of a heterosexual couple sure to be raised properly? If the point of this argument is

because there are things man can do that women cannot and vice-versa, then the argument is

wrong. The thing is, our society binds us to these gender-roles that we must play, disallowing us

to see the fact that what men can do, women can do also, and vice-versa. It is but the society

who dictated that the only role of a woman in a family is to nurture, and the man be the strength.

To adapt to modernity, we shall be open-minded and we shall reorient these gender-roles,

promoting gender equality and being fair to all. In fact, the only thing that might ostracize a

homosexual couple’s child from a normal one is the teasing that he or she is different because

her parents are different too. But this one should not be blamed at the child of the homosexual

couple who did nothing wrong, but to the parents of the bully, because they did not teach their

child to be open-minded and undiscriminating.

A most probable question would be, “Why do gay people need marriage and its

legalization?” Well, the answer is simple. There are perks to marriage that only legally married

couples can enjoy, including but not limited to hospital visitation, taxation and inheritance rights,

access to family health coverage, and protection in the event of the relationship ending. It is not

a matter of money or inheritance; moreover it is a matter of sharing what you have with your

spouse as an act of love. Since it is still deemed peculiar by the society, I believe that only a

homosexual couple who really love each other can muster up the courage to actually be

married, thus ensuring the part that their marriage will be a successful one, in comparison to the

normal heterosexual couple who might only rely on separation by the time that they cannot hold

on to their marriage anymore.

Gay marriage would make it easier for same-sex couples to adopt, therefore cleaning

after the mess of heterosexual couples who bore children but could not support them. It is but
beneficial to society not only because it contributes to the local economy through taxation and

implementation, but also because it evens out what the normal nuclear family fails to do, which

is at this point, be a responsible family for a child.

It is not true that gay marriage invites more people to be gay; being gay is ingrained and

is not something you just decide upon. It is also not enough that you decide to be gay and then

you can live with it; it should be because you are already gay that you decide to step out of the

closet and live it. Same sex marriage does not violate religion. Religion violates the rights of

same sex couples. After all, this bill pushes for gay marriage to be legal under the constitution,

not under the church. We shall be reminded that the state is separate from the church;

therefore the government can allow things not necessarily accepted by the church.

We shall be open-minded about things to be able to adapt to the modernization of our

society. We should not be bounded by the walls of tradition and norms when they are actually

useless to development and equality. Being gay is not a sin but a reality, and I believe it should

be respected much like being straight is accepted in the society. LGBT people are of large help

to our community; it is but fair that we let them enjoy the same rights as we have because they

are people like us. They should not be denied of things that we enjoy, especially because these

things will not harm us anyway.

Let us love our LGBT brothers and sisters. Let us be modern and think outside the box.

Let us be equal and fair to mankind. Let us support the legalization of same sex marriage in the

Philippines.