For some same-sex couples in the Philippines, the main obstacle to their “happily ever after” is the law.
In a coordinated move on Monday, a gay couple set out to prove this as they tried to apply for a marriage license with the civil registrar, only to be denied.
“We really felt we were rejected. It’s painful to be rejected by your own city hall,” said Crescencio Agbayani Jr., founding pastor of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Straight (LGBTS) Christian Church Inc.
Agbayani had applied for a marriage license for him and his partner of 10 years, Marlon Felipe, at the Quezon City Hall. They were told, however, that under the law, marriage could only be between a man and a woman.
Though Agbayani had expected his petition to be rejected, he explained that his experience would bolster the petition for certiorari he and other LGBT members would file in the Supreme Court, questioning the prohibition on same-sex marriages.
“I’m not blaming the civil registry or the city government. It’s the law that doesn’t recognize us,” he said.
“This is not an issue of religion but of equal protection. We’re also taxpayers, a part of society that needs to be recognized,” Agbayani added.
A lawyer, Jesus Falcis, had asked the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional some parts of the Family Code limiting marriage between a man and a woman.
“If that [phrase] is deleted, same sex marriages will be allowed,” said Falcis, who had accompanied Agbayani on Monday. Agbayani’s rejection “is the actual case and controversy that the Supreme Court will look upon,” he added.