Legalizing LGBTQIA+ Marriage in the Philippines

“Love is too beautiful to be hidden in the closet” this is a wonderful quote that
relates to this topic. Our country, the Philippines, is a religious nation. Many are against
homosexual couples because religion sees that “loving the same gender” is a sin. Most
Filipinos, especially elders, always say that being “bakla or tomboy” will bring a person
to hell. Personally, I don’t agree with any of it. I have LGBT friends and I know none of
them will be going to hell just because of their sexuality. I understand that religion is a
big thing but we can’t dictate what a person should do or feel.

Am I in favor of legalizing LGBT Marriage in the Philippines? No. Before people

get angry, I will elaborate my answer. As I said earlier, our country is a religious nation.
Many will be against marriage of homosexuals and transgenders. I get that marriage
between LGBT people has nothing to do with straight and religious people but mixing
religion to homosexuality will cause some chaos. “Marriage” is defined as “A lawful and
sacred relationship between two people (male and female)”. Religion is a big part of
Filipino culture and it’s impossible to cross it with homosexuality. In case it is approved,
religious people will see it as “disrespecting our religion and culture”. In this way,
homophobia may be worse and discrimination between LGBT people will rise.

However, I am in favor of legalizing “Same Sex Union” here in our country.

“Marriage” and “Union” are indeed similar but they are different. Marriage includes legal
and religious public declaration of love and commitment. While “Union” is a legal
relationship between two people that provides legal protection to the couple at the state
level. Simply, union involves the legal rights of a couple but unlike marriage, it doesn’t
involve religion. I think union is enough to consider the rights of homosexual and
transgender people. Same sex union will allow LGBT people inheritance rights,
employment benefits, property, parental rights, and more. In this issue, I personally
support them and I have no problem with any of that. I think they deserve to love who
they want to love. Sexuality is not a reason to deny someone’s rights and as equal
citizens of this country, it is only right that we get what we deserve.

Currently, same sex union is not yet approved here in the Philippines. But If I
were to decide, I will never think twice to agree to it. I have LGBT friends and just like
any other people, I want them to be happy. As a Filipino citizen, I see this opportunity to
make other people realize that we should acknowledge various people in our country.
We should provide equal rights for everyone and it doesn’t exempt homosexuals and
transgender people.

“It takes no compromise to give people their rights… It takes no money to respect
an individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to
remove repression.”- Harvey Milk