American shocked after his Cebu bride turns out to be a man

Manila: An American has asked a court in Cebu City to nullify his marriage to his Filipino bride after finding out on the night of their wedding that he had married a man.

Gerald Brainard III of Michigan asked the Cebu City Municipal Trial Court to declare as "null and void" his June 27, 2006 marriage to Vincent Suarez, reports reaching Manila said.

In asking for the nullification of the union between Brainard and Suarez, the groom's lawyer Anna Bojos, argued that the marriage cannot be consummated because the "essential requisite" for the contract to be considered valid had not been satisfied.

Dating

In his request of the annulment of his marriage, Brainard narrated that he and Suarez met in April 2006 through a dating website.

The initial email exchanges gave way to phone calls and internet chats until the relationship between the two distant lovers flourished.

Two months after they met, Brainard flew to the Philippines and personally courted Suarez.

The whirlwind romance had been good until the night of their honeymoon when Suarez confessed that they were of the same sex.

Brainard said he was "shocked and horrified" on this discovery.