A gay rights group, felt aggrieved by a Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision denying their accreditation to run for the upcoming elections, has decided to bring its case to the Supreme Court.

Party-list group, Ang Ladlad, Tuesday petitioned the high court to reverse the Comelec’s Nov. 11, 2009 decision disqualifying the group from participating in the May polls on grounds of immorality.

In its petition for certiorari, the group accused the poll body of grave abuse of discretion and violation of the Constitution and international laws.

Ang Ladlad took exception to the Comelec declaration that it is advocating “sexual immorality” and “immoral doctrines.”

“Comelec makes the most hostile of discriminations as it deprives Ang Ladlad accreditation using a standard of measure that makes an unwarranted and impermissible classification not justified by the circumstances of the case,” Ang Ladlad said.

It noted that the Constitution, particularly Section 1 of Article III guarantees 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.”

Ang Ladlad argued that barring it from joining the party-list elections was in violations of “freedoms of speech, of expression, of the press and of peaceful assembly” and a “transgression of generally accepted principles of international law which are made part of the law of the land.”

The Comelec resolution, it said, was “contrary to principles enshrined in international human rights law, and constitutes a serious breach of Philippine States obligations under international law.”

It added that even the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church through the Vatican Council declared in 1965 that “human person has a right to religious freedom,” which means that “all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in manner contrary to his own beliefs.”