Adam and Steve

"And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man" 2 Genesis 22

No less than Our Divine Creator, the supreme judge of all, made known to men that a woman is given the breathe of life for her to comfort a man and for a man to live with a woman. This is not an exposition of any religious dogma, but a statement of fact which now underlies the inception of marriage and the birth of family. This is neither an assault against any gender class nor a malicious imputation to those lovers who bear the same sex, rather this is a defense against any desecration of the sanctified union between a man and a woman and, more so, a cure to a social ill that may, perhaps, uncherish family life.

Same-sex marriage can be understood in its ordinary sense. Even without a formal education, the term is so common that a man of ordinary intelligence can eloquently provide for its description. Same-sex marriage, however, in its most simplified sense, is a marital union between two persons of the same sexual orientation.

The issue as to its acceptability has been settled in some States. In fact, not only is it acceptable by the most democratic nations, it has also been legalized by them. Whether or not the Philippines will take the same course of action is a legitimate, popular, and a societal issue that will bear legal and moral significance. It is for this reason that an examination as to its validity, nature and ramification has now become imperative. Thus, an inquiry must be made, first, as to the definition, basis and function of marriage and family.

Marriage is defined by the law as a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolabe social institution whose nature, consequences and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation. In addition, it is, likewise, provided that no marriage shall be valid unless the contracting parties, who must be a male and a female, are legally capacitated.

The law as well states that family relations include those: (1) between husband and wife; (2) between parents and children; (3) among other ascendants and descendants; and (4) among brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood.

In a brief analysis of the aforementioned legal principles, same-sex marriage is a forbidden exercise of marital congress because it can only be concluded by a man and a woman and family relation, among others, is composed of a husband and a wife. Hence, a marriage between a man with another man or a woman with another woman becomes inexistent.

Nevertheless, a law, no matter how immemorial, may be amended, abolished, revised, modified or altered.

It must be ever-changing to the needs of time, so that a law which will introduce same-sex marriage is, by all means, probable. But, any law to that effect is unconstitutional.

The Constitution provides that the State recognizes the sanctity of family life. Further, it added that the State recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation. While it can be argued that man alike may establish a family by their own right without any power of procreation or that the term "family" under the Constitution is so broad as to encompass and include spouses of the same gender, nevertheless, such reasons will not hold water since the drafters of the Constitution shared the impression that the word "family" embraces only an ordinary meaning - one that is constituted by a father, a mother and their children. In addition, the electorate ratified the Constitution with the view in mind that the term "family" is exaclty that which is composed of a man and a woman and their descendants.

But more than any legal or constitutional question is the issue of moral decency. The degree and magnitude of this measure will bring about confusion in the natural order of things. Same-sex marriage shows a moral indifference to the opinion of the respectable community; a cavalier assault against the dignity of man; an unusual phenomenon that will storm the barricades of propriety; a distasteful affair that shocks moral conscience; and, all things considered, a wound that strikes at the heart of social conciousness.

To allow this irrational behavior will open any possible thought and find its way, however disgraceful and unsolemn, in our lives and the lives of our children. No one, however, can demand the dictates of a heart, not even the fear of death can dispose to ruin an intimate affair, much less steer the fleeting feeling of one to another. But the right to love, standing alone, is not a license to celebrate a matrimonial ceremony. Love is no justification at all, more so a convenient excuse in introducing such unlikely arrangement. Again, marriage is the forerunner of creating a family and the obligation of a husband and wife is to rear for their children, observe mutual love, respect and fidelity.

Above all, the tender care and unconditional love to a child can only be truly expressed by a mother. A woman who has felt the unborn child in her womb and bear the pain during the child's complete delivery are human nature. It is for this reason that the love of a mother to a child is beyond the comprehension of any intellect, incomparable to any other state of love and irreplaceable by time. A man, by whatever scientific advances, will never bear a child from his womb. He is not only incapable of reproduction but, worst, of tendering a mother's love.

In the light thereof, same-sex marriage will never pass the strict scrutiny of the Constitution and will fail under the critical examination of morality. It cannot shatter the standing moral standards of the many by the few.

Man is a rational animal, an intelligent animate specie, that is far superior from all beasts. To introduce this animality will alienate mankind of its rationality and reasonableness; it will debase our social being, threat our welfare and injure our civilization. Thus, we become uncivilized, cunning, lustful, and lascivious. We will lose the essence of marriage, erase the social function of family and dispossess the society of human nature. Indeed, it is intended to perpetuate an act of bestiality.

Marriage is not a joke. Our endowed ability to think freely and act accordingly must not spill the bounds of any moral structure. After all, God did not create Adam and Steve.