Philippine’s Only Gay Soap is Attracting a New Anti Gay Law

After being monitored by Philippine bishops for having a very risky topic tackling the once taboo gay relationship, the popular bekiserye My Husband's Lover has spawned a bill that seeks to punish homosexuals or lesbians indulging in same-sex adultery.

On Thursday, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman Jr filed Bill 2352 or the My Husband's Lover bill that would broaden the coverage of Article 333 of the Revised Penal Code that the penalty for a spouse who had indulged in sexual intercourse with a person from the opposite gender.

"What if a married woman engages in a sexual activity with another woman? Conversely, what if the married man engages in a sexual activity with another man? Under the present law, no crime is committed here," Mr Lagman said in a statement.

Article 333 of the Revised Penal Code provides prison term of up to four years for violators of that law in which a married woman in a relationship commits adultery and a married man commits concubinage.

He insisted the bill was filed not to discriminate against gays, lesbians and other members of the LGBT community, but "Equality must be upheld both in the rewards as well as in the sanctions for violations handed by society through innovative laws. Every person must also be prepared to accept and carry the burden of equal liability and responsibility," the neophyte lawmaker said.

The bill is a take-off from characters in the GMA soap opera where the characters played by Tom Rodriguez, Vincent who is the married man, has a love affair with the character portrayed by Dennis Trillo, Eric, despite Vincent being married to Lally, played by Carla Abellana.

In response to the bill, LGBT advocate Danton Remoto said the gay community is against the bill because while he admits it is wrong for married people to indulge in extramarital affair, the proposed penalty is too harsh considering that many gays who marry women do so just to meet expectations of society, but a trapped in unhappy marriages. This leads them to seek secret love affairs with other men behind the back of the wives, just like what happened in the soap opera.

However, there is one possible gray area in the bill since the definition of sexual intercourse could be questioned if it is applicable to same-sex intimate acts since the normal definition of coitus involves the insertion of an erect penis inside a vagina. Female-to-female sex often involves stimulation of their genitalia using mouth and sex toys like dildo, while male-to-male intimacy often involves fellatio or anal intercourse, both of which could be questioned legally if it constitutes sexual intercourse.

The country's Anti-Rape Law of 1997 lists forced sexual intercourse as well as sexual assault including insertion of penis into another person's mouth or anus or any instrument or object into the genital or anal opening, but force is involved which is not the case in same-sex adultery. 

 Vittorio Hernandez