While America waits to see whether gay marriage will spread through its arteries to reach all four corners, Venezuela is taking it upon itself to recognize same-sex couples. Or at least legislator Romelia Matute, a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and Deputy of the Assembly’s Family Commission, is.
As reported on Friday in Spain’s ABC, Matute stated that “the report on the ‘Organic Bill for Gender Equality’ is almost ready for a second – and final – [legislative] debate,” adding that it would include language allowing “the union between two people of the same gender” in the form of something she called “co-inhabiting associations”.
Matute said that members of the National Assembly, a majority of whom belong to President Hugo Chávez’ party, had met “several times” with gay rights organizations and said that it was those organizations who requested that the “co-inhabiting association” term be used.
She said that the government would recognize “the joint-living associations formed by two persons of the same gender, on mutual accord and free agreement, with the full legal and patrimonial effect”.
Matute also said that the bill would address transgender issues: “Whoever changes their gender through quirurgical means, or any other means, exercising their freedom, has the right to their identity, and to drafting or changing all documents associated with their identification”.
Sor Lujuriana
Probably so…but homophobia is so deeply-rooted in Venezuela that if approved it wouldn´t make much of a difference. The country is deeply polarized and the opposition´s normally labels Chavez supporters as “fags” (as though there were no homosexuals in the opposition ranks, which reflects a lot of collective internalized homophobia…gays and lesbians in the opposition don´t have the testicular/ovarian fortitude to come out and probably will decry the new law even at expense of their own civil rights…so let´s not hold our breaths for it.
Alan
If Venezuela can come up with something to give LGBT rights, why is it that America can’t pull their heads out of Washington’s ass?
atdleft
@Alan: Heh. And while Hugo Chavez is NO angel by any means, this probably does prove that he was never the evil tyrant that Dumbya Bush said he was. Again, which Latin American nation is moving forward with anti-discrimination and domestic partner legislation? Oh yes, Venezuela!
mark
Chavez was democratically elected twice, and overcame a recall. Jimmy Carter’s voting rights organization and many others deamed all elections fair and more accurate than those here in the USA.
Chavez is returning power to the people by forming local councils, so contrary to popular sentiment he is not a dictator.
Chavez has nationalized things like oil to spread the weather back to the people through healthcare and education for all.
Socialism is working.
Sor Lujuriana
@mark: Hummm…nope, Chávez was democratically elected once, in December´98…afterwards he managed to reform the Constitution and through those reforms take control of every branch of the government, including the CNE, the government agency in charge of organizing and overseeing any electoral process in the country. Socialism in Venezuela is not working, poverty and corruption are even worse than when the old regime was in power, he controls everything, and unfortunately the opposition can´t get their act together…obviously you have never been to Venezuela, not even as a tourist, otherwise you wouldn´t singing Chávez´praises…if you like Chávez´brand of socialism move to Caracas and live there…you´ll be in paradise.
Tony Cochran
Indeed, Mark. I love Chavez. We all need to support him~!
7SnowyNights
136436″>mark: If there’s no proof of the corruption involved in every “election” and “referendum” since he took office, it’s because the government controls everything. Just a few months ago, the opposition was winning with 70% of the vote just minutes before the polls closed. Chávez had predicted a 52%-48% victory earlier that day.
Somehow, he got it.
Let me give you a vivid image of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela:
1997: small LA, with more trees and mountains.
2009: Baghdad, with more trees and mountains.
If you think that just because the gays are “legally” allowed to live together, and transgenders are “legally” allowed to have their surgeries, don’t think it puts Chávez in the pantheon of liberal leaders, not when the poverty level keeps plummeting and the lives lost in violent cases annually is at six digits.
If Venezuela is proof that Socialism works, I want no part of it.
rogue dandelion
I am more ashamed every day of my country and president.
next thing will be saudi arabia granting civil unions before obama moves on doma
Bill Perdue
The only big mistake Chavez makes is to think he can build a socialist society with out eliminating the old political order with roots in Venezuela’s neo-colonial status vis-a-vis US hegemony in the Americas.
Chavez has yet to build a mass revolutionary party to do that.
His reforms are a step in the right direction, and this GLBT rights bill is excellent. But until the old political and economic structures are consigned to the garbage bin of history and a mass revolutionary party takes their place all their efforts and reforms are in danger.
Remember the fates of Allende in Chile, Zapata in Mexico and Arbenz in Guatemala. They and others tried reform instead of revolution and got a right wing, US backed, military dictatorship for their efforts followed by decades of brutal repression.
Andrés Duque
Guys. Thanks so much for linking up to my original blog post. An update:
Ms. Matute’s assertions have been refuted. According to the Presisent of the legislative commission, Marelys Pérez, there is no such language in the current draft of the bill. Pérez says that Assemblymember Matute was speaking as an individual and not as a member of the Commission….
http://blabbeando.blogspot.com/2009/03/venezuela-same-sex-unions-are-not-being.html