A POSITION PAPER ON THE LEGALIZATION

OF SAME SEX MARRIAGE IN THE

PHILIPPINES

Presented to Mr Federick Quilatan

Purpose By: JONEL BONITA November 2018

Same-sex marriage is defined as the union of two
individuals of the same sex in a marital
relationship with full legal rights and
responsibilities given to this contract in a
specific jurisdiction. It is the subject of debate
and controversy of numerous experts as
of today. . The practice of homosexual marriage
is not a recent event as it has been around during
the Greek and Roman periods. This type of
marriage is only limited to a minority of jurisdictions
at a few countries in which it is available. Countries
in which same-sex marriage is allowed include
Norway, South Africa, France, England, and the
most recent countries are Ireland and the United
States of America. Now there is the issue in
whether Philippines should also legalize same-
sex marriage. Same-sex marriage should be
prohibited in the Philippines as is it clearly
contradicts with its culture, especially as the
country is dominated by the Catholic religion and
its teachings .It is a common view for the society
to see marriage between heterosexual couples,
there are others who would want to argue.
Equality of rights is usually the argument of same-
sex marriage supporters. They believe that
homosexual and lesbian couples should have the
same rights of marriage as those of heterosexual
couples. Supporters of the LGBT community have
argued that by giving them the right to marry
promotes equality as the government has fina y
recognized their rights, and thus dissolves
discrimination .The Philippines, however, is a
Catholic country. Legalizing same-sex marriage
here clearly contradicts the teachings and doctrine
of the Church. Rev. Fr. Jose Glicerio Geremia
defines marriage as the union of man and woman
.God Himself instituted marriage by stating that
man is made for woman and woman is made for
man. In Genesis 2:18-
25, there are lines in which support it. “The Lord
God said, ‘It is not good
for the man to be alone. I will make a companion
for him who corres ponds to him.’” And there is
also the line, “Then the man said, ‘This one at
last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh
;this one would be called woman, for she was
taken out of man.’”
So when a man is married to a man or woman
married to a woman, this
Lates the Church’s
doctrine. It will weaken the respect and value of
marriage, since marriage is considered sacred