I DISAGREE with the statement that a group calling itself “Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International in the Philippines” put out in a paid-for half-page space in the Feb. 24 issue of the Inquirer (Page A6).
Titled “A Statement of Support for Manny Pacquiao’s Stand on Same-Sex Marriage,” it showed clearly that the people behind its publication have a fundamentalist outlook on the Gospel and the Bible.
In the first place, same-sex marriage is a contradiction in terminis, a contradiction in itself. Marriage is a union between a man and a woman the purpose of which is procreation. Couples of the same gender engaging in sex cannot procreate, but they have a right to live together and live with adopted children as a family. What they do together in bed is nobody’s business, as what married people do together in bed is neither anybody’s business. Government should recognize this right of homosexuals so that they can enjoy this right as married couples do.
Personally I believe many Filipino men are homosexuals or, what you call in Bisaya, bayot. How many bishops and priests in the Philippines are bayot?
The Church says that homosexuality is an objective disorder. I don’t believe God creates disorders in men. For them it is natural to feel a “sexual inclination” toward somebody of the same sex. But the Bible condemns discrimination, and that is what Pacquiao did when he compared these people to animals.
Personally, I am not a fan of Pacquiao. He has the tendency to beat his opponent into unconsciousness, and that is savage. I don’t believe either that he should be a legislator. Being a good boxer is not necessarily being a good legislator.
—ARNOLD VAN VUGT, Cagayan de Oro City, nolvanvugt@gmail.com.