Marriage Equality Act

If I were a legislator, this would be the bill I'd be pushing for...but I know the country isn't ready for this yet.

Title: Marriage Equality Act

Executive Summary:

           

Homosexuality in our country, the Philippines is evidently not acceptable compared to other developing countries. Discrimination is still very much evident as some people still refuse to accept the existence of the third sex and other times, limit their expectations, assuming that members of the third sex are deemed to be unclean.

Marriage has long been one way that couples express their love for one another and their commitment to their relationship. Despite arguments that so-called “same-sex marriage” seeks to redefine “traditional marriage,” allowing committed gay and lesbian couples to get married does not change the meaning of marriage. Gay and lesbian couples want to get married to make a lifetime commitment to the person they love and to protect their families.

Bill Text:

The concept of equal protection under the law, to be preserved in our Constitution, requires that fundamental rights like the right to marry be made available equally to same-sex and opposite-sex couples. This bill would not only allow same sex couples to get married, but would also serve as an enshrined advocacy on defending LGBT (Lesbian, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders) rights and broaden the range of civil liberties.

The act would open the minds of the many who refuse to live with the third sex that they have equal rights as straight people, that they have the capacity to love, work, trade as those who are straight. The act would be part of the constitution, thus it would reflect the political principles of government, and thus recognizing the existence and delegating equal rights to the LGBTs.

In article posted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “Nine states plus D.C. allow same-sex couples to marry, two more respect marriages of same-sex couples validly performed in other states, eight provide civil unions or comprehensive domestic partnerships, and two more have more limited domestic partnership systems. That’s 20 states plus D.C. that provide some significant state-level relationship protections, and those states are home to 130 million people.

These facts are heartening, but there is still a lot of work to do to improve laws that will protect all families. Since the first marriage lawsuit for same-sex couples in America in 1971, the ACLU has been at the forefront of both legal and public education efforts to secure marriage for same-sex couples and win legal recognition for LGBT relationships.”

For Philippine Implementation, education is the first step for this act to be recognized and accepted to society. Movements promoting the advocacy of giving equal and distinct rights to the LGBTs must also be strengthened and persisted.