Too Many Gays in Philippines Congress

An election official in the Philippines said Monday that gays and lesbians cannot be considered marginalized in society because there are already too many of them in the nation's congress.

Nicodemus Ferrer told reporters that gays and lesbians are "overly represented" in congress. He was commenting on a decision to reject gay rights group Ang Ladlad's request for party-list representation in the legislature.

"I have been telling them, you are not under-represented... actually you are over-represented in the Lower House and Upper House," Ferrer told reporters.

When asked, he declined to name names.

In reporting the story, The Philippine Star, an English-language news publication for the "Filipino global community," refers to gays and lesbians as "the third sex." They say Ferrer argues that once gays and lesbians are elected to office, they can no longer be considered marginalized.