Gay remarks ‘stir support for anti-discrimination bill’
July 5, 2011
BAGUIO CITY — Christian groups here see the noise created by the union of eight gay couples in June as a “grand design” to gain support for the approval of an anti-discrimination measure in the House of Representatives.
House Bill No. 1483 or the Anti-discrimination Bill is sponsored by Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teodoro Casiño.
Ateneo law alumni and realty developer Alexander Bangsoy, a leading personality in the charismatic movement in the city and nearby Benguet, sees the wide reaction prompted by the same sex marriages officiated by local pastors in the city as part of a plot to stir debate and evoke discriminatory attitude against the third sex to gather sympathy for HB 1483.
“It sets the stage that they will say we are discriminating (them), though we are not,” he said.
“Even if [only I] and my family will demonstrate against HB 1483 [we will do it],” Bangsoy said. “We cannot allow that even schools will teach our children that attraction is normal for the same sex, citing section 3, letters a and c of HB 1483 defining sexual orientation to include homosexuals and bisexuals,” he added.
On Saturday afternoon, more than a hundred members of various charismatic groups, without the Catholic Church, marched down Session Road to condemn the same sex unions.
The groups vowed to oppose HB 1483 by asking Baguio Representative Bernardo Vergara and Benguet Representative Ronald Cosalan and all House members to junk the measure.
The groups campaigned in social networking sites like Facebook (No To Same Sex Marriage in the Philippines group page) to counter the growing popularity of the gay unions.
A signature campaign at the networking site was also launched.
“We should oppose HB 1483,” Bansoy cajoled the handful of demonstrators who later gathered at the Peoples’ Park where testimonials were heard briefly.
In response, members of the gay community claimed discrimination has now became the main issue and not the marriage.
“This is no longer about the mass-wedding. It’s already about discrimination,” Carol Galvez of the Lesbian for National Democracy or Lesbond said in a statement vowing to bring the matter as high as to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
“Lesbians for National Democracy calls for an end to discrimination in this city and country, especially from the local government and certain religious groups because we lesbians are also protected by the same Magna Carta of Women, which protects your mothers, wives, sisters and daughters,” Galvez added.
The group calls for the recognition of our human rights based not only on Constitution but the covenants that the Philippine government is party to, “because lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights are human rights.”
“We call on our government to follow through on its duty to ensure our equality before the law and show concrete steps towards bringing this city to new heights by looking beyond sexual orientation and gender identity,” the statement added.
Also, the Baguio Pride Network is alarmed at the amount of information that can lead to misunderstanding and rash actions against lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in Baguio City and the entire country.
The group is referring to the pronouncements of Baguio-Benguet Vicariate Bishop Carlito Cenzon labeling the people involved in the same-sex weddings as “mentally-ill” and “abnormal” including the “hints” of Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan indicating support to the Catholic Church’s stand.
“We fear that these actions and pronouncements add to the already numerous problems of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgender such as hate crimes, discrimination, homophobia and physical violence against us,” Cye Reyes of the BPN said.
She also called on the different sectors of Baguio to defend the human rights of the LGBT citizenry of any part of the society.
Grassroots LGBT organizations like Pro-Gay Metro Baguio and the Thunderbirds Association of the Cordillera and Suburbs (TACSI) also issued similar statements challenging Mayor Domogan and the City Council to pass a local version of the Anti-Discrimination Ordinance to protect the LGBTs against “violence and homophobia.”
The opposition on same sex unions has also gone beyond debate and discourse as the City Council is planning to file a case against Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) pastor Myke Sotero, and two others officiated the wedding of eight gay pairs.
“But [this Council debate] has only popularized the issue all the more,” said City Councilor Erdolfo Balajadia, a former public prosecutor.
“I cannot see [any case with] any legal leg to stand on,” he said.
It was a religious ceremony, not a civil rite, which was officiated, said Balajadia, who was Baguio City’s chief prosecutor for two decades.
But according to Sotero, one of the three pastors who officiated the ceremony, “more and more couples are applying to be unified.”
“This soon, there are at least 50 couples from Manila wanting their union solemnized,” he said.
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/local-news/2011/07/05/gay-remarks-stir-support-anti-discrimination-bill-165035
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