Although the Philippines has a harsh stance on homosexual marriage, Archbishop Oscar Cruz has said that a marriage between a gay man and a lesbian might be allowed.
The judicial vicar of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-National Appellate Matrimonial Tribuna told a church forum on Tuesday that marriage between a gay man and lesbian is okay because the anatomy and possibility to reproduce is there.
According to the current Constitution of the Philippines church, the law states that marriage is an act between a man and a woman as well as for raising a family.
However, although this is clearly a traditional and respected law for the Catholic country, it seems unusual to permit a gay man and lesbian to marry simply on the grounds that they’re of the opposite sex.
After all, it’s not like the union will actually result in reproduction if the ceremony is between a gay man and a lesbian woman; they’re gay, hence the liking of the same sex.
Archbishop Oscar Cruz continued by saying that he had asked himself this question after mentally debating whether the union should or shouldn’t be allowed and, after much self-deliberation, was inclined to say yes in this instance.
However, on the topic of same-sex marriage, the Catholic Church would always oppose the union because, no matter how you alter the proposal, the outcome is still the same:
“For the Church, even if you turn it upside down and call it by another name, it would still not be marriage.”
This seems a little hypocritical considering that the Archbishop is fine with the possibility of a gay and lesbian union but not of two homosexual men or women.
Surely, by allowing a gay man and a lesbian to marry, you’re doing exactly what the Catholic Church says it won’t do and simply turning the union on its head and calling it a different name.
However, there’s no doubt that many anti-gay marriage activists and other church officials would be inclined to say that my understanding of their comments is wrong. Nonetheless, it is a loophole that needs to be addressed.
Considering that many studies have been carried out to try to see whether homosexual marriage does have an impact on straight marriage, there seems little reason for more confusion to be added to this heated debate. On the hand, with unusual threats still being received by the French Major who married a gay couple , it would seem that the end is nowhere in sight for marriage equality.
Either way, it would seem that Archbishop Oscar Cruz is blurring the lines of what is and isn’t acceptable in the eyes of the Catholic Church, which will likely cause a lot of confusion for homosexuals across the globe.
[Image via now.msn ]
