The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is now training its guns on the anti-discrimination bill, saying the possible enactment of the bill into law would open the door for the legalization of same sex marriages.
Speaking at a weekly forum in Greenhills, San Juan City, on Wednesday, lawyers of the CBCP and a Catholic bishop hit the Senate for amending the previous version of the anti-discrimination bill or the Senate Bill 2814.
The Senate has recently passed on third reading the bill which is after penalizing all forms of discrimination.
The SB 2814, known as Anti-Ethnic, Racial or Religious Discrimination and Profiling Act of 2011, will be discussed by a bicameral conference committee tasked to harmonize the Senate bill with similar bills passed by the House.
Ronald Reyes, a lawyer of the CBCP, said they had no qualms about the bill before but became concerned when the bill was amended and “sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity” were included.
“It’s opening the door for same sex marriages, which our country doesn’t allow,” Reyes told reporters.
So I clicked on that “read more” link, and I found this:
Another CBCP lawyer Jo Imbong said the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender) should not be considered the same as the elderly, the handicapped, and the poor.
“These people are disadvantaged not by their own choice. But the third sex, they choose this. How can you give protection to a choice like that?” Imbong said.
Now, help me react. Do I:
a) Write something nice, long, and angry about how ignorant and bigoted this is? Should I waste effort into pointing out the stupidity, or are they doing it for me already?
b) Laugh because HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA really? People still think this way?
or
c) Just… shake my head in frustration and pity, because really? People still think this way?
But you left this out:
The bill would hinder the Church from teaching what it believed to be right or wrong, Imbong said. The lawyer noted that under the bill, the priest who refused to officiate same sex marriages may be fined with P500,000 and jailed for 25 years.
But yes, that quote from the CBCP is a bit foul.
