Of Angels and Seagulls: Love Never Fails

It has only been weeks since the Supreme Court of the United States ruled the right to marry to everyone in their country, regardless of gender. Many people celebrated this remarkable event by flooding the streets with rainbow flags, and even the social media overflowed with rainbows too, with people across the world showing their support to the LGBTQI community.

It was heartening when I saw some gay friends changed their profile photos into rainbow themes, especially those who I knew were out for a long time and were in relationships. It's like seeing that they are hopeful that marriage equality could happen in the Philippines. I bet, it would be a long fight. On the other hand, I could also spot people using the rainbow themes not knowing the reasons why, or not understanding what 'Celebrate Pride' meant. So much for going with the flow.

I understood that the marriage equality ruling allowed same-sex couples to enjoy the benefits that heterosexual couples were granted upon marriage. This legalization does not force the religious communities that do have a strong belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. These events had me thought about my personal stand about marriage, about same-sex relationships, about sexuality, with the teachings I have learned from the church and the society.

Yes, I have friends who are openly gay and who are in a relationship with their same sex. I don't tell them that homosexuality is a sin, and I try as much not to judge people according to their gender, or according to anything at all for that matter. Judging others entirely, based on some criteria is another sin. We are not living in a time when homosexuality was considered a disorder. We are in a society where we accepted that people's gender is not only categorized as male or female. There were a lot of categories in fact. You can check this out.

I read some articles tackling some questions and answers about this same-sex marriage that helped me understand some confusions that I had. I will list down the links below. The legal definition of marriage was modified upon the ruling in the U.S. and took effect in all its states. Same-sex marriages have been happening in different parts of the world even before the June 26th event, and these have been termed as civil unions, life partnership to name a few. You can look out for the timeline of same-sex marriage to be familiar with the history. So why was it a big deal then when U.S. approved this marriage equality? There a lot of issues in fact, but one was that this event gave hope and encouragement to gay communities in other countries to also fight more for their right to marry. After all, many countries look up to the U.S. just like the Philippines, which largely based the legal setup on the U.S. system.

But how does this event affect someone who lives not in the U.S.? I, for one, rethink about what marriage means to me. Some say we marry for love. Some say we marry for stability. Some marry for the benefits that they will be granted. Yes, it is a union - a sacred and exclusive union between my husband and I; blessed with God so we can grow in faith and love as we build a family. That's what I believe marriage is - so that people can procreate and contribute to the betterment of family life and society. I believe that we all wanted to keep our society safe, secure, and developing. That could be our common ground. I hope that this milestone will bring progress and not chaos to the majority. I hope that this will bring improvement to the family life, and not just to individuals.

Amidst the hashtags (#LoveWins), I hope that love really wins among us. Beyond the fighting back, hatred, shaming and deeming this same-sex marriage act sinful, we can still choose to love. After all, we are sinners but we are capable of kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, and love. These are the things that the church have taught me through the years - to be kind and to love in the face of indifference. Because,