PH not Ready for Same-Sex Marriage: Palace

The Philippines, as well as its Supreme Court (SC), is not yet ready for same-sex marriage, Malacañang said on Thursday.

“I do really believe that the Supreme court and the country is not yet ready for this kind of proposal of marriage amongst same sex,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace press briefing.

He said even lawmakers, including the first transgender member of the House of Representative, Geraldine Roman, have said time has not yet come to push same-sex marriage bill in Congress.

Roque said what the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community is pushing for in Congress is the passage of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression (SOGI), which aims to end discrimination towards LGBT members.

He said he was co-author of the SOGI bill, which is still pending in the Senate.

Roque said the lawmakers believe Filipinos would find it hard to accept same-sex marriage because it’s “too revolutionary”.

“They knew that it’s too revolutionary perhaps for the society to accept same-sex marriage,” Roque said.

Roque said even President Rodrigo R. Duterte has changed his mind on same-sex marriage legalization.

“There was a time he says that he was against it. There was a time he said he’s for it. So this is really fluid..,” Roque said.

“As Justice (Marvic Mario Victor) Leonen said: ‘Sometimes when you file these cases prematurely, it will have negative effect on the cause that you want to advance’,” he added.

On June 19, the SC tackled for the first time the same-sex marriage in the oral arguments based on a petition seeking for its legalization.

“I think the declaration of the justice is, it seems, it (the petition) will not be approved,” Roque said. (With reports from Nicole de Leon, OJT/PNA)