Duterte in favour of same-sex civil unions, but not gay marriage

gay marriage

President Duterte is in favour of same-sex civil union but not gay marriage, his spokesman has announced.

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Harry Roque made the remark today (Monday, July 2) after a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 61 per cent of adult Filipinos disagree that a law allowing civil union between two persons of the same sex should be introduced.

The same survey showed that 22 per cent agree with same-sex union while the remaining 16 per cent were undecided about it.

“The president is against same-sex marriage. But on same sex union, he is in favour of that so that there could be an organised aspect of same-sex couples living together,” Roque said in a briefing in Maasin City, Southern Leyte.

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“But if it’s same-sex marriage po iyan, even the president is part of the majority in opposing it,” he added.

The Supreme Court has recently concluded its oral arguments on same-sex marriage just days before last Saturday’s Metro Manila Pride March at the Marikina Sports Center.

Roque, meanwhile, said that he felt like there was “no hope” for the petition on same-sex marriage to win in the Supreme Court but noted that he could be wrong.

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“I don’t think the current challenge in the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of Article 1 of the Family Code, defining a marriage as between a man and a woman will actually succeed on the basis of the oral arguments conducted,” he said.

“It seems like there is no hope for that case to win in the Supreme Court. But I could be wrong,” he added.

The president has previously said that he “wanted” gay marriage but only after the passage of a law allowing it.

The leadership of the Philippines’ dominant Roman Catholic Church, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, has stood firm in its opposition to legalize same-sex marriage.

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