Philippines high court rejects gay marriage appeal
The Supreme Court of the Philippines has dismissed a petition to legalize gay marriage in the majority Catholic country, instead suggesting the nation's Congress should address the issue.
Jesus Nicardo Falcis III, the attorney who initiated the petition in 2015 and identifies as a homosexual, had no legal standing in the case since he himself had not applied for a marriage license, the court said in its decision Tuesday (Sept. 3), the Philippine news site philstar.com reported.
The court acknowledged that the Southeast Asian nation's 1987 Constitution does not define or restrict marriage on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, philstar.com reported. Rather, marriage is defined in the Family Code of the Philippines as a union between a man and a woman....
