Debate Intensifies over Venezuela’s Proposed Same Sex Civil Union Law

[IndianaGreen]

Debate Intensifies over Venezuela’s Proposed Same Sex Civil Union Law

July 15th 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, July 15th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- The public debate over a law proposal in the Venezuelan National Assembly (AN) that would legalize same-sex civil unions intensified this week, as Venezuela's Episcopal Church publicly condemned the proposal, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) activists responded.

The proposed Organic Law for Gender Equity and Equality has passed through one round of discussion in the National Assembly and will now face a second round of discussions and a final vote, according to National Assembly Legislator Romelia Matute.

Matute is a proponent of the controversial Article 8 of the law proposal, which, if included in the final draft, will establish that "every person has the right to exercise their preferred sexual orientation and identity freely and without any form of discrimination, and as a consequence, the state will recognize co-living associations constituted between two people of the same sex by mutual agreement."

The article also states that people who "change gender by surgical or other means have the right to be recognized by their identity and to obtain or modify the documents associated with their identification," and obligates the state to create the conditions for their integration into society "under equal conditions."

The law's passage would have positive implications for the rights of the children of either member of the same sex couple, and for the couple's social security, inheritance, rent, and taxes, although the details of these rights are not spelled out in this law.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4632

[t0dd]

1. Has Chavez stated his opinion on this legislation? nt

[IndianaGreen]

2. Chavez supports the legislation

but since he is not the dictator that some people make him out to be, he merely proposes legislation and the legislature disposes. The same thing in Cuba where a similar bill is making its way through the legislature.

The biggest barrier is cultural--the traditional machismo.

[jcarterhero]

3. Hopefully the legislation will pass

[Bluenorthwest]

4. And yet here, we have no forward motion at all. Frozen.

to please the bigoted heterosexual community. God is in the Mix! Hallelujah!