“Marriage equality is a human right”.
This was the statement of rights group TLF Sexuality, Health and Rights Educators Course (TLF Share), which highlighted the merits of marriage equality in the Philippines.
“Allowing LGBTQ+ couples to marry, build a family, and gain access to social protection services like any straight couple would be a step in the right direction for human rights in the Philippines,” said Anastacio Marasigan, the organization’s executive director.
Currently, LGBTQ+ couples in the Philippines are denied access to protection, healthcare, insurance, loans, housing and other services afforded to heterosexual or straight couples. And for Marasigan, this is discriminatory.
In the absence of marriage equality in the country, the group is – in fact – urging for legal remedies that would recognize LGBTQ+ relationships, particularly in legal matters.
Marasigan recognizes the sensitivity of the issue, particularly among religious people. And yet “it is time to start a sober discussion on this issue, within the lens of human rights and equality for all,” he said.
For TLF Share, religious freedoms will in fact be protected even with the introduction of marriage equality since “marriage equality will not force any church or religious order to perform same-sex weddings if it is against their teachings or doctrine.”
In the end, stressed Marasigan, “what same-sex couples are fighting for is equal protection and recognition under civil law. Marriage equality is not a religious question. Marriage equality is a fulfillment of non-discrimination and equality.”
