In support of the Sogie bill
Pass the bill on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (Sogie).
Pass the bill on same-sex marriage.
These measures should be supported in the name of human rights, and in the name of those who are muted, discriminated against, violated, mocked, and denied their humanity even for merely existing.
Philippine society tolerates, albeit grudgingly, members of the LGBTQI community if they fit the popular and comic stereotypes. Faith-based moralists are not as vocal, but they are as rabid as ever in their out-of-context tirades.
Faith-based opposition must be vigorously opposed in the passage of these proposed pieces of legislation. The Philippines is not a “Christian” nation, or based on any faith for that matter. Christians, either in their arrogance or ignorance, assert that “Almighty God” in the Preamble meant the Christian god. But if it did, it violates the Constitution’s provision on the separation of church and state by elevating nationally a divinity worshipped by one religious group.
“No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
That line acknowledges the cultural belief in the divine by the various ethnolinguistic peoples of the Philippines.
Faith-based opposition to the bills centers on the following:
• That they will damage the integrity of the family and weaken the institution of marriage.
• That they will discriminate against the “Christians,” the majority.
• That they are against the Bible.
The Family Code defines family and marriage in terms of heterosexual coupling. Reality dictates otherwise: Single-parent families do exist; LGBTQI-adopted/raised children have their own families.
Heterosexual families and marriages still exist and most are dysfunctional due to neglect and abuses of all kinds. These setups can be functional and dysfunctional, good and bad.
Religious conservatives argue that the Sogie and same-sex marriage bills are morally detrimental to the welfare and integrity of family life. In response, I say that the goodness, the wholesomeness, of a “family” goes beyond the sexuality of its members. Branding people simplistically as either good or evil, strong or weak based on their sexuality is a mark of arrogance and ignorance.
Consider a family with an abusive father and an apathetic mother: If religious conservatives can call this evil, un-Christian setup a “family,” then I assert that a family of kind and understanding homosexual parents is certainly a better family. Nurturing single-parent families are better than irresponsible “whole” families.
The virtue of heterosexuality is overestimated while the goodness of same-sex and gender-queer relations are denied. It is no secret that straight persons (and the clergy as well) indulge in extramarital and “immoral” sexual activities.
The religious will be discriminated against, they say. They argue further that, in a democracy, laws should reflect the sentiments of the majority. And by nominal numbers, legislation should reflect the sentiments of the “Christian” majority. Such arrogance and ignorance know no bounds.
Democracy was created by the pagan Greeks. Greek males practiced homosexual relations: pederasty. The tyranny of the majority exists. The majority is not always right: The majority called for the crucifixion of Christ; the majority of Germany approved the Nazis’ mass murder of the Jews.
Yes, legislation does reflect the sentiments of the majority, but in response to the needs of the time. Legislation, and indeed legislators, should empower the needy and the marginalized, to give voice to the voiceless.
True legislation never bows down to the might and caprice of the mighty and the majority.
The clergy will not be forced to render their services, for what members of the LGBTQI community seek is civil, state recognition of their unions and families and to enjoy the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples do because gays and lesbians are as human as heterosexuals are. Their humanity should not be questioned as much as we should be questioning the legislative qualifications of one senator. The fault in our “stars” is they
become politicians with little to no qualifications at all.
On discrimination, what I know is this: The refusal to provide any form of public or commercial service based on someone’s sexual preference is inhuman, evil, unchristian, and un-Christ-like.
The last point: The Sogie and same-sex marriage bills are against the Scriptures.
I agree. The Hebrew-Christian Scriptures are clear in their prohibitions against sexual acts outside heterosexual and married humans. There are neither prayers nor blessings for same-sex unions. And, like all heterosexual adulterers, thieves, and murderers, they are bound for hell. There is no going around the written word. In here, we are faced with the absolute enmity of the Christian world view to the LGBTQI cause. I advise the religious progressive to face this truth.
Religious conservatives are out of context because they speak from a religious world view and insist on its absolute applicability on a secular issue. It will never work. That is why the provision on the separation of church and state exists.
I firmly believe, just as the Jewish sages believed, that the Scriptures can be violated when human life is in danger. Our religious enemies know this, too; that is why they deny and attack the humanity of the LGBTQI community. This is what we struggle to uphold.
* * *
Dom Balmes, 27, is a writer and a graduate student at the UP-Asian Center.
