Ang Ladlad can participate in May elections — SC

Controversial rights group Ang Ladlad – composed of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals or transgenders – can participate as a party-list group in the May 10 elections, the Supreme Court said Thursday. In a decision penned by SC Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, the high court granted Ang Ladlad's petition to stop the implementation of two Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolutions denying the group's accreditation as a party-list group. The decision said Ang Ladlad complied with the legal requirements for accreditation as a party-list group listed in Republic Act 7941, or the Party-list System Act. “We are not blind to the fact that, through the years, homosexual conduct, and perhaps homosexuals themselves, have borne the brunt of societal disapproval. It is not difficult to imagine the reasons behind this censure – religious beliefs, convictions about the preservation of marriage, family, and procreation, even dislike or distrust of homosexuals themselves and their perceived lifestyle. Nonetheless, we recall that the Philippines has not seen fit to criminalize homosexual conduct," the Court ruled. Last January, the SC issued a temporary restraining order on the implementation of the Comelec's November 11 and December 17, 2009 resolutions denying accreditation to Ang Ladlad. The first resolution by the Comelec’s Second Division denied Ang Ladlad’s application for party-list accreditation, claiming that the group was advocating “immorality" and that homosexuals were a “threat to the youth." The second decided by the Comelec en banc junked with finality the group’s appeal to overturn the first ruling. Incorporated in 2003, Ang Ladlad, represented by its chairperson Danton Remoto, first applied for registration with the Comelec in 2006, but the application for accreditation was denied on the ground that the organization had no substantial membership base. On August 17, 2009, the group again filed a Petition for registration with the Comelec, this time, arguing that the lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgenders (LGBT) community is a marginalized and under-represented sector that is particularly disadvantaged because of their sexual orientation and gender identity; that LGBTs are victims of exclusion, discrimination, and violence; that because of negative societal attitudes, LGBTs are constrained to hide their sexual orientation. In its petition filed on January 4, Ang Ladlad alleged they were delisted from the Comelec’s list of accredited party-list groups on the ground that the group “tolerates immorality." “The resolutions demonize the LGBT community by accusing them of indulging in imaginary acts of immorality that the Comelec deem as ‘a threat to the youth. More importantly, the resolutions violate rights guaranteed under the Constitution and laws of universal application," Ang Ladlad said in its petition. The group claimed the Comelec resolutions violate Article II, Section 6 in relation to Article III, Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution. This provision guarantees the separation of the Church and the State and provides that “no religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights." It further argued that the resolutions violate Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution which provides that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws." It noted that even the Vatican has already publicly condemned violence and discrimination against homosexuals. Aside from violating the provisions of the Constitution, Ang Ladlad said the resolutions of the Comelec are also contrary to the principles enshrined in international human rights law, and constitutes a serious breach of the country’s obligations under international law. It noted that Article 2 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty to which the Philippines is a state party, provides that member states should ensure all individuals within its territory the rights in the covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as sex. Furthermore, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee), tasked to monitor the Convention on the Elimination of Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a treaty to which the Philippines is a state party, has asked state parties to re-conceptualize lesbianism as a sexual orientation and to abolish penalties for its practice. — with a report by Johanna Camille Sisante/LBG, GMANews.TV