Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, 57, addressed the country’s national assembly on Thursday 22 October, asking members to consider the passage of a marriage equality bill following Pope Francis’ statement of support for same-sex civil unions. Same-sex marriage is currently illegal in the Roman-Catholic country, but the Pope was recently seen in an interview saying: “Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family.” This is the first time he has explicitly said LGBTQ+ people should be entitled to legal recognition for their relationships.
According to Reuters, Maduro followed up on Francis’ statement, saying: “I have friends and acquaintances who are very happy with what the Pope said yesterday…I will leave that task, the task of LGBTQ+ marriage, to the next National Assembly.” If Venezuela – which currently has few legal protections in place for its LGBTQ+ population – was to legalise same-sex marriage, it would become the sixth South American country to do so. It is currently legal in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay.
You must be logged in to post a comment.