MEMBERS of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community can do everything that makes them “happy and fulfilled” but should ensure that they do not violate the law, President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday, March 23.
Duterte maintained that he has to uphold the Civil Code of the Philippines that states marriage is only “between a man and a woman.”
He said, however, that he does not condemn same-sex relationship, telling them to “go out of this universe happy and fulfilled.”
“In the Family Code, in our Civil Code that defining the relations of men our society, marriages, birth, everything, it says marriage is always between a man and a woman. If I allow it (same-sex marriage), then I would have violated the law,” the President told reporters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City early Thursday morning.
“But if you would ask me what makes you happy, do it. You can only do it once. Never to return back. This is one straight deal. So whatever makes you happy, you go out of this universe happy and fulfilled. If it makes the gays happy, let them be. I do not condemn anybody there. What makes you happy, good. Just don’t violate the law,” he added.
On Sunday, Duterte said he could not allow same-sex marriage in the country because it erases the “great divide between a woman and a man.”
His latest pronouncement contradicts his statement during the 2016 campaign that he might legalize same-sex marriage, when he gets elected president. (SunStar Philippines)