Same sex marriage issue paves way for anti-discrimination bill

BAGUIO CITY ,Philippines  – Christian groups led by the Catholic Charismatic Christian Movement believes that the same sex marriage controversy is a “grand design” by some sectors to push House Bill 1483 (Anti-Discrimination bill) filed by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño.

According to the group, the same sex unions officiated by the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) here on June 29 have been pitting family members against each other, the opposing Catholic Church and other Christian groups versus the proponents and even government officials caught in the controversy.

Alexander Bangsoy, a member of the charismatic movement in the city and nearby Benguet, said the diverse reactions to the same sex marriages were part of a plot to stir debate and evoke discriminatory attitude against the third sex to gather sympathy for HB 1483.

“It set the stage for them to say they are being discriminated, though (they) are not,” Bangsoy said.

The group vowed to oppose HB 1483 by urging Baguio Rep. Bernardo Vergara, Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan, and all other congressmen to drop the measure.

They have also taken their cause to social networking sites like Facebook (No To Same Sex Marriage in the Philippines group) and have initiated a signature campaign to counter the growing popularity of the “unions.”

“We should oppose HB 1483,” Bangsoy, now a pastor, told the handful of demonstrators gathered at the People’s Park.

“I have proven that we can change. Being a man is a matter of decision, being a male is only a matter of birth,” he said.

The critics of same sex unions have also gone beyond debates and discourse as the city council here is poised to declare MCC’s Myke Sotero and two others who officiated the wedding as persona non grata and is contemplating a case against them.

“The same sex unions have only popularized the issue all the more,” said former Baguio chief prosecutor Erdolfo Balajadia, who now sits on the 14-member city council here.

“I cannot see (the filing of a case having) any legal leg to stand on. It was a religious rite, not a civil rite that was officiated,” he said.

Sotero said more and more couples are applying to be wed after the much-publicized weddings. This early, at least 50 couples from Manila have already expressed their desire to have their union solemnized.

Fighting discrimination

But lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBTs) are fighting back and highlighting discrimination as the main issue.

“This is no longer about the mass wedding. It’s already about discrimination,” Carol Galvez of the Lesbian for National Democracy (LESBOND) said, vowing to bring the matter to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights if necessary.

LESBOND echoed their call for an end to discrimination in the country, especially from the local government and certain religious groups.

She argued that the Magna Carta for Women that “protects your mothers, wives, sisters and daughters” also protects them.

The Baguio Pride Network (BPN), meanwhile, expressed alarm over the pronouncements of Baguio-Benguet Vicariate Bishop Carlito Cenzon that people who engage in same-sex weddings are mentally ill and abnormal.

Cye Reyes of the BPN said these actions and pronouncements add to the already numerous problems of the LGBTs such as hate crimes, discrimination, homophobia and physical violence.

LGBT organizations like PRO-GAY Metro Baguio and the Thunderbirds Association of the Cordillera and Suburbs (TACSI) also issued similar statements challenging Mayor Mauricio Domogan and the city council “to pass a local version of the anti-discrimination” bill to protect the LGBT s against violence and homophobia.