While the lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual (LGBT) community in the Philippines may rejoice along with their brothers and sisters across the world at the US Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriages in all 50 states, even they do acknowledge the reality of their situation in the country.
That reality was illustrated by Rica Paras, a board of trustees member of the LGBT partylist group Ang Ladlad, who said they would first prioritize the passage of an Anti-Discrimination Bill since it would make it easier for the passage of the amendments to the Family Code that recognizes marriage as an exclusive union of man and woman.
An anti-discrimination ordinance had already been passed in the Cebu City Council which penalizes people or establishments against discriminating people of the third gender.
And same-sex marriages are allowed by the communist New People’s Army (NPA) as a show of progressive thinking on their part, though they aren’t encumbered by Catholic teachings since they’re basically atheistic and thus believe in humanism rather than theology.
The anti-discrimination measure being lobbied by Ang Ladlad imposes fines and jail time for discrimination against LGBTs in various incidents, including but not limited to:
denial of access to public service, including military service, to any person on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity;
include sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as the disclosure of sexual orientation, in the criteria of hiring, promotion and dismissal of workers, and in the determination of employee compensation, training, incentives, privileges, benefits or allowances and other terms and conditions of employment;
refusal of admission or expulsion of a person from educational institutions on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity;
refuse or revoke the accreditation, formal recognition, and or registration of any organization, group, political party, institution or establishment solely on the basis of sexual orientation.
As noted by Paras in an interview at ABS-CBN’s Umagang Kay Ganda show, the passage of an anti-discrimination law is a first priority because “it affects every aspect of their lives.”
Same sex-marriage, like abortion, is something that the Catholic Church in the Philippines has been naturally quite opposed to for years now. But what is noteworthy is that some within the Church likeFr. Ranhilio Aquino, dean of San Beda Graduate School of Law, acknowledge that the US Supreme Court decision forces the church to “re-examine its understanding of the human situation.”
For now, the Philippine LGBT community can take their lessons from the US Supreme Court ruling to see if it can be used to promote better understanding of their situation to Philippine society as a whole.