THINK TALK: Sen. Padilla’s Bill on Same Sex Civil Union Draws Flak

MATALAM, North Cotabato (MindaNews /16 Aug) – Sen. Robin Padilla files a bill seeking to legalize same sex individuals to enter into civil union. This was docketed as Senate Bill No. 449. Sen. Padilla’s bill not only seeks to institutionalize civil unions of same sex couples but it also included anti-discrimination protections for people in such unions.
 
By implication, Sen. Padilla knows that probably no Christian Church in the Philippines, and more so with Islam upon which the good Senator identifies himself with, would grant a church wedding to couples of the same sex. Hence, he simply calls it “same sex civil union” (SSCU). This came as a surprise, not only among the Christian majority in the Philippines, but also among minority Muslim Filipinos who consider this as taboo, highly immoral, and absolutely un-Islamic.
 
Many views on the contrary have already been expressed by religious organizations on the issue of same sex marriage or union, but debates among small quarters of the population continue to persist. Despite the fact that a great majority of the world’s religions are opposed to this kind of union, the number of religious denominations that are conducting same sex marriages have been increasing since 2010. Most, if not all, religious views on same sex marriage are closely related to views on homosexuality. Religions and societies that refuse to recognize homosexuality will naturally abhor sexual partnership among people of the same sex.
 
The issue of same sex union could go a long way and shall remain for as long as there are people who talk about it and continue to believe that such union entails duly recognized and established right to it. This has been the real issue so far. Philosophical logic dictates that before a right at something can be acquired there must be prior recognition or established acceptance, not only of the action but more importantly, the people who are supposed to do it, or in simple terms, the actors.
 
If the world’s religions and societies do not give such recognition that homosexuality can be practiced by people who identify themselves as such, as well as established social norm that there are certain kind of people who are naturally like that, then the quest for homosexual identity and recognition shall remain a long and hard struggle.
 
Now, if the sole basis for discussion on the issue of homosexuality and same sex union is purely the religious and its moral dimension, the issue is dead. God has made manifest that all men are identified as males by their sexual organ, not how they act, feel, think, believe, and behave. In the same notion all women are identified as females by their sexual organs and other feminine manifestations such as the breast with mammary gland as well as their physical configuration.
 
Any attempt at confusing the physical configurations of man and woman or trying to introduce a third identity not otherwise contemplated under God’s creation will naturally meet vehement opposition, loud criticism, and maybe minor but not a distant possibility is violent reaction from the religious sector and moralist groups. The Grand Imam, Alim Abdulmajeed Djamla, of the Marawi City Grand Mosque (Jamea Mindanao Al-Islamie) and his followers have already manifested their withdrawal of support for Sen. Robin Padilla and strongly condemned his sponsorship of the “same sex civil union” bill. Netizens are likewise brewing mad at this bill which they say is weird, immoral and scorned by Islam and the majority Christian sects. If same sex marriage in the U.S., with a more liberal society, is not accepted by majority of the States, with more reasons it will meet rough sailing in the Philippines with its relatively more conservative society.
 
It boggles the mind how an immensely popular Senator would dare to thread an unpopular path as evidenced by the fact that the SOGIE (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression) Bill has been pending in Congress since 2000. With the fate of the SOGIE Bill there is no need to test the waters through yet another highly controversial move, that is, the legalization of same sex union or marriage.
 
Apart from the religious and moral demerit of the SSCU Bill, it is also not politically correct for the good Senator to make such a move. Assuming for the sake of discussion that one of his motives is to please the less than one million LGBT registered voters who may have voted for him because of his good looks, that is utterly unnecessary. He can take away a million from his 26.6 million votes and still land on the number 1 spot. Sen. Raffy Tulfo is a far second with 23.1m votes.
 
I reserve my right to call or not to call him a Muslim brother at this point in time!
 
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Maugan P. Mosaid holds a doctorate degree in rural development. He is a freelance writer, planning consultant, and teaches Statistics and Methods of Research in the graduate school. He can be contacted at mauganmosaid6@gmail.com.)