For promoting same sex relationship which is contrary to religious beliefs, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has rejected the petition of gay group Ang Ladlad to be recognized as a party that can run in the 2010 Philippine elections. As expected, the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender (LGBT) community is not happy over this ruling.
The 2010 presidential elections will be held on May. Ang Ladlad will participate in the elections through the partylist system. According to the Philippine Constitution, 20 percent of members of Congress should come from partylist groups which represent the country's underrepresented and marginalized sectors.
The Ang Ladlad group is surprised that the government body used religious texts instead of legal documents to justify the ruling:
We are very unhappy with COMELEC’s decision to deny accreditation to Ang Ladlad. We feel that COMELEC did not perform its responsibility to promulgate electoral policy because its decision was based not on legal documents, but entirely on religious texts (i.e. the Bible and the Koran).
Ang Ladlad, along with the entire LGBT community, does not promote a doctrine of immorality; COMELEC has no business calling Ang Ladlad immoral without legal basis. Also, calling Ang Ladlad a threat to the youth is unsubstatiated, thus, it cannot be supported in a legal document like the COMELEC decision.
Sampaloc TOC believes the poll pody should not have used religious documents in considering the case of the LGBT group
I think fundamentally, the error in judgment from Comelec comes from the hubris that it can determine ecclesiastical law. These are not men of the cloth but of the law. The constitution does not vest Comelec with the ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It is an organ of the government of the Philippine republic. Comelec cannot consider the Bible or the Qu'ran procedurely.
The poll body also accused the LGBT group of promoting immorality. Karen Jane Ang advises public authorities to stop acting as morality cops
COMELEC should stop acting as our morality police. It is not part of their duties and responsibilities. We already have religious groups who tell us what we must or must not do, who to emulate or abhor, and which candidates to support or abandon. We do not need another group who does the same.
RP2010.com urges the poll body officials not to discriminate against the LGBT sector
The assertion by Ferrer, along with co-commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph, that gay people are an immoral group is nothing but a clear indication of their personal discrimination against the LGBT community. Government, by its very reason for being, must not be allowed to discriminate against any sector of society.
The “3 Stooges” — as Ferrer & co. have been nicknamed — also claim that LGBT Filipinos are already “over-represented” in Congress. Are jibes such as that really necessary?
Apples Daily challenges the poll body to disqualify all corrupt and immoral politicians
The COMELEC surmised that simply being homosexual/ bisexual/ transexual is immoral. If they’re all about morality, then maybe they should not let politicians, who are or have been involved in crimes, corruptions and other mundane scandals, to run in the 2010 elections. Why don’t they go ask every religious person to file for candidacy, since it looks like there won’t be anyone left to run in 2010… but then, even these religious people might not pass their morality test.