SC justice tells gay rights advocate Falcis: You’re going against powerful culture

Associate Justice Marvic Leonen warned lawyer and gay rights advocate Jesus Nicardo Falcis III, who asked the Supreme Court (SC) to legalize same-sex marriage, that he would be going against a “powerful heteronormative culture.”

“You realize you are going up against a powerful heteronormative culture in this country,” Leonen told Falcis during oral arguments on his petition to legalize same-sex marriage on Tuesday. “I hope you’re ready for that, and we will see.”

READ: ‘1987 Constitution does not limit marriage to opposite-sex couples’ — Falcis

Leonen warned Falcis that his arguments about “choices of intimate relations” will be considered “in the context of a cultural hegemony.”

In the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, divorce is considered illegal while marriage is only allowed by the Family Code for a man and a woman.

Philippine laws also consider homosexuality as grounds for annulment.

Falcis, during Tuesday’s interpellation, said the legal recognition of same-sex relationships would allow them to access “numerous rights and obligations” such as “the right to make decisions for their partner in the event of a medical accident where one person is in comatose.”

“In the status quo, Your Honor, they cannot assert and demand by right to be in the hospital and make the decisions for their partner or they cannot inherit or they cannot claim SSS [Social Security System], GSIS [Government Service Insurance System] benefits,” he added.   /vvp