Region I

City Schools Division of Batac

GENERAL ARTEMIO RICARTE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Brgy. 35 Bil-loca,
City of Batac

Position Paper about Legalizing Same

Sex Marriage in the Philippines

Gallego, Haziel Joy O.

Grade 12- Gold

General Artemio Ricarte Senior High School

2019-09-30
 No to Union of Same Sex

Recently, the popular party-list Gabriela will be filling a bill approving same
sex marriage in the Philippines in the near future. Same sex marriage is the unity of
two individuals of the same sex in a marital relationship with full legal rights and
responsibilities given to this contract on a specific jurisdiction. It has been stirred
controversy and turned heads once it was introduced to Filipino community. When
the Christianity become dominant religion in the Roman Empire, Theodosian code of
312 A.D-same sex marriage was prohibited in Ancient Rome, ordering those who
were previously married to a member of a same sex to be executed. This type of
marriage is only limited to a minority of jurisdictions at a few countries that same sex
marriage is allowed such as Norway, South Africa, France, England, Ireland and
United States of America. For me, legalizing same sex marriage should be prohibited
in our country because it contradicts with our culture, especially Philippines is
dominated by the Catholic religion and its teaching. This not implies the concept of a
family. Our country is not yet ready for this kind of marriage. Homosexual marriage
defies the law of nature and anti-creation. Lastly, If the couple decides to adopt a
child, the child will not be raised properly and have a possibility he/she might be
bullied.

This kind of marriage has so many disadvantages in our country as well to us

Filipino because it contradicts with our culture, especially Philippines is dominated by
the Catholic religion and its teaching. Most of the Filipinos are Catholics and they are
usually family-oriented and in their perspective having this kind of marriage would
break their Filipino values. Catholic faith same sex marriage is inexcusable because
based on the bible a women is created for man. It is also a form of immorality and
God will not let this happen to his people. It violates natural law because marriage is
not just any relationship between human beings but a relationship rooted in human
nature and thus governed by natural law. It defeats the State’s purpose of benefiting
marriage; same sex marriage doesn’t provide a personal gratification of two
individuals whose union is sterile by nature. It is not good because man is a partner
of a woman to create a family. Children that are raised by a homosexual couples
indicates an increased risk in negative outcome. Homosexual couples are same sex,
therefore they can’t bear a child so that they would decide to opt for in vitro
fertilization or hire baby makers. This would render their children lacking of mother
and father as the parents.Same-Sex marriage also distorts the normal values that
each child grows up learning. And this will be harmful for a growing child because
the children long for both of his biologically and naturally parents. In social view,
various researches on children from same sex families find that these children are
more likely experiment sexually, experience sexual confusion, and also engage in
homosexual and bisexual behaviours themselves. Recent medical research have
confirmed genetically determined difference between men and women and indicate
that those fundamental differences help explain why mother and father bring unique
characteristics to parenting that can’t be replicated by the other sex. And also this
constitutes an imbalance of what definition and understanding of marriage and
creates biological, psychological and social problems for their children.

When a man married a man or woman to a woman, this violates the Church’s
doctrine. It will weaken the respect and value of marriage, since marriage is
considered sacred and almost every society views marriage as a union between
men and women only. It is not beneficial as homosexual and lesbian couples are
incapable of reproduction and cannot be considered as a full-fledge family. Even with
the choice of adoption, or having surrogate mothers and sperm donors.

Having a gay relationship/marriage may cause viruses and diseases like AIDS
and HIV due to their sexual intercourse. Religious group believe that AID’s is a
punishment from God above for disobeying his word. Gay marriage can also bring
harm to anyone because it can bring huge financial and emotional stress.
Homosexuals can sue people who are exercising their religious beliefs. In some
states that have already legalized same sex marriage have ministers that will still
refuse to marry a gay couple due to their own personal belief.

Throughout the 20th Century, there are many facts that depict the view of
same sex marriage. The American Psychiatric Association defined homosexuality as
a mental health disorder in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental
Disorders, up until 1973. This was due to society’s shift of their views of same sex
love relationships, versus the fact that sodomy was still mostly illegal in United
States. But in today’s terms, society’s shifts have increased further, with researches
determining quantitative analysis. Between 1996-2014, support for same sex
marriage in the United States doubled from 27% to 55%. Today, only 33% of the
population says that same sex marriage should be banned. As of November 2015,
there have been approximately 100,000 same sex marriages performed in the
United States.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte announced that he will not support the
legalization of same sex marriage in a press conference. Because the validity of
other gender identities, claiming that the Philippines is predominantly Catholic and
that existing laws do not really allow for the legal recognition of same sex
partnerships. Then there is the issue regarding of the acceptance of the Filipinos to
same-sex couples. A survey conducted by Rappler shows that seventy percent of
the Filipino population “strongly disagrees” with the legalization of the said marriage.
This shows the fact that most citizens of the Philippines are not yet ready for it and
that they clearly disapprove.

In recent study put forward by Mark Regnerus, he assessed populations of

adults, both who lived in a home with heterosexual parents, and those who lived in a
home where either one or both of parents had been in a same relationship in their
lifetime. The results have higher percentage of children who had parents with a past
same-sex relationship used marijuana, smoked, were arrested and convicted for
non-minor offenses, and thought about suicide. Also as a direct result of same-sex
parents, children are deprived of either one or the other of their natural parents.
Based on social science, children needs both mother and father to raise them.
Parenting in same sex is inadequate. And children that are raised by homo sexual
are more likely to experience gender and sexual disorders.

Homosexual behavior and same sex marriage are contrary to the goal of
procreation which is a prime purpose of marriage; and any effort to pervert the
principle of man-and-woman sexual relationship, by whatever route violates the law
of God and has negative implications for population development in human society.
Homosexuality and same sex marriage are a dangerous error on moral and ethical
grounds and are a threat to societies which, underpinned by divine ordinances and
biblical teaching, have survived for centuries. This assessment applies equally to the
cluster of unbiblical beliefs and practices generally captioned LGBTQ. They are all
diametrically opposed to the law of God.
 Almost all major religions condemn homosexuality as sinful behavior. Same-
sex marriage is a fundamental threat to marriage, the bedrock and heart of
civilization. Historically, the primary purpose of marriage has been to bear and raise
children. Responsible procreation is at the heart of society’s interest in regulating
marriage. Same sex marriage endangers children. The mother and the father bring
different and important traits to child rearing. Children are better off when raised by
both a father and mother. And it also threatens the religious freedom.

In 21st century solution that satisfies everybody's emotional prejudices, the

best solution are they should bind the relationship contract and replace the marriage
certificate as the legal document, marriage should be recognized as religious
institution but have no status in law (Mantle,2017). According to DC (2008), both
homosexual and heterosexual couples will have "civil unions" in the eyes of the
state. If they want a union in the eyes of God, go to a church. If they want a union in
the eyes of the state, go to the courthouse. It will put an end to any of the religious
arguments used to oppose same-sex marriage.

I conclude that legalizing same sex marriage have many disadvantages for us
people, community and to God. It can spread out virus specifically HIV and AIDs due
to sexual intercourse of gay with man. They are not capable in raising a child
because having a mother and father as a parents of a child gives them unique
characteristics and attitudes. If same sex couples adopt a child or have a surrogate
mother, a child will deal criticism or being bullied because of their parents’ kind of
relationship. Today's number of LGBTQIA is increasing rapidly, same as to the
couples having same sex marriage. There is a possibility of having gay marriage
invites or motivates people to be gay. Our country is not yet ready in legalizing same
sex marriage because most of Filipinos are Catholics, most of people does not
support LGBTQIA, they are not open minded in some point, their mindset is not yet
ready and they are not capable in understanding these situations. It threatens the
natural way of marriage. It also insults God because God himself instituted marriage
by stating that man is made for woman and woman is made for man. It 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 would undercut
the norm of sexual fidelity within marriage. It would further isolate marriage from its
procreative purpose. In order for children from same-sex marriage not to be put at a
disadvantage, these children from an early age need to have an understanding of
the value, characteristics, and differentiation of boys from girls in order for them not
to go through sexual confusion. To solve this controversy among all debaters and
people, same sex marriage should stay as a civil union not in law and in church.
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