When will the same-sex partnership come of age?

As we observe Independence Day tomorrow, we can’t help but extend the celebration to that of the human spirit, and the human heart. To us, it shouldn’t be so farfetched, in this day and age, to expect the respect and independence given to heterosexual couplings to be extended to same-sex partnerships. Yet sadly, it is.

We awoke three weeks ago to a story where, in response to US President Barack Obama’s favoring marriage equality for homosexuals, our country’s favorite Pacman was reported in disagreement, quoting the Old Testament, Leviticus that homosexual love is not permissible. This overused quote has been the anthem of the Religious Right Wing for decades.

 Poor Manny Pacquiao. Not only did he need to deal with his fight with Timothy Bradley (aired yesterday), but calls for his resignation from Congress, a petition that went viral on Facebook asking Nike to rescind its lucrative contract with the boxing champ. Such tactic had worked on popular radio talk show personality Rush Limbaugh who had called a pro reproductive rights woman a slut and prostitute. Advertisers quickly pulled out from his show. We wondered how Pacman would get out of that mess.

 The next morning, we were told that Granville Ampong, writing for examiner.com, had asked Pacquiao’s opinion on Obama’s stance on gay marriages, and Pacman said he was against it. Then Ampong added the Old Testament quote himself. Pacman clarified that he didn’t quote Leviticus; he never called for the death of gay men and women. “My favorite verse,” Pacman had said is, “Love one another as you love yourself. Love your neighbor. So, I love everybody!” However, he is still not for same-sex marriage, he said. Fair enough. Pretty soon, too, the Corona Impeachment took over national interest with same-sex issues swept to the far corner.

 From among our myriad gay and lesbian friends, we have yet to include a same-sex married couple. Which is why, upon hearing that our long time acquaintances Markus Schmidt and Richard Danao of Firma Home Accessories were getting married in July, on the 19th year of their living together, we quickly went over to see them. They had just come from Boracay, the place where they had first met, and would be leaving soon for Markus’ homeland in Germany to finally get married there.

 We asked Markus and Richard why they had waited this long. They divulged that, apparently, the rituals extending exactly the same rights to gays as heterosexuals were approved in Germany only a year ago. There had been much debate until support of same-sex marriage in Europe ultimately placed Germany in eighth place after Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and the Czech Republic.

 Much as the Philippines appears exceedingly tolerant of its gay population, many of our gay friends say their parents while aware of their sexual preferences, choose to ignore it, much less discuss it. This is why we feel such a ruling will take another century to be approved in this country. 

 This, we find quite strange, however, especially in the light of research reporting Christian gay unions in diverse archives in the Vatican, St. Petersburg, Paris and Istanbul, from the 8th to the 18th century. Even stranger is the discovery of an icon from St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai in Israel featuring Christian martyrs St. Sergius and St. Bacchus. http://anthropologist.livejournal.com/1314574.html Now at a Kiev museum, the icon clearly shows the male homosexual couple. In the definitive 10th-century account of their lives, St. Sergius is openly celebrated as the “sweet companion and lover” of St. Bacchus.

The world’s best pound for pound boxer Pacman

Severus, the Patriarch of Antioch (AD 512 to 518) had said, “We should not separate in speech they (Sergius and Bacchus) who were joined in life”. Their orientation and relationship were not only acknowledged, but fully accepted and celebrated by the early Christian church, which was far more tolerant than it is today.

 Next year, when Markus and Richard mark their 20th anniversary as a couple, Markus tells us it will be a grand affair, not only to celebrate their two decades but “to make a statement.”

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