Venezuelan LGBT advocates and allies launch major marriage equality effort

Representatives of 47 Venezuelan LGBT organizations and their allies gathered outside the National Assembly in Caracas this morning and handed in 20,000 signatures asking legislators to consider a civil marriage equality bill in their next legislative session.

For months, LGBT organizations had canvassed for signatures throughout the country and earned the support of legislators affiliated with President Nicolas Maduro's government - including former president Hugo Chávez's brother - as well as opposition party politicians.

Efforts to bring these signatures to the capital have received comprehensive coverage by tightly controlled official media channels including the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN).

According to AVN several socialist party legislators welcomed the signatures and vowed to process the request.

"It is our obligation to accept the proposals the people bring to us and it is our obligation to hand these proposals to the [National Assembly's] executive committee for them to assign the matter to the appropriate legislative commission," said socialist party member Elvis Amoroso.

Amoroso added "Our commander Hugo Chávez as well as the President of the Republic Nicolás Maduro always expected us to attend to those who govern us - the people of Venezuela - and here before us is part of those people we represent."

That's not quite accurate. As president the late Hugo Chávez rarely discussed LGBT issues and when he was asked about same-sex marriage in 2009 he said Venezuela wasn't ready for it and he personally didn't see it as a "good thing."

Maduro, for his part, ran one of the most homophobic presidential campaigns in recent Latin American history even as he professed love for the gays and welcomed their votes.

But, at least rhetorically, there seem to be signs of an increasing willingness to at least consider addressing the needs of Venezuela's LGBT community.

Estimated at 300, the crowd that gathered outside the National Assembly this morning chanted "If the Pope were gay, [same-sex] marriage would already be legal" as heard in this video clip from the AFP.

Here is Edgar Manuel Baptista from the Pro-Inclusion political party addressing reporters about the importance of the proposed marriage equality legislature:

Pedro Zerolo sends his support from Spain: There will be a day in which the untold history of how the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) and the Spanish National Federation of Gays and Lesbians (FELGBT) traveled to Latin America and planted some of the seeds for marriage equality in Argentina and Uruguay after securing passage of their own law in 2005. Those efforts were led by the Venezuelan-born attorney and Spanish councilmember Pedro Zerolo who never lost sight of Latin America despite living in Spain for more than two decades.

On January 7th, El Pais broke the devastating news that the long-time LGBT rights activist had been diagnosed with cancer.  He has vowed to fight the illness but, amazingly and movingly, took time from his treatments to tape a message supporting these marriage equality efforts in Venezuela:

Pedro Zerolo: Dear friends, January 31st of 2014 will be a historic day in Venezuela.  It marks the first step towards the recognition of LGTB men and women's equality and dignity. And I am specifically saying "dignity and equality" which means enjoying the same rights others do and with the same terminology. Friends, on January 31st a marriage equality bill will be presented before the National Assembly. A legislative bill properly vetted and supported by a social network that I am certain will make it a reality sooner than later. Why? Because love has to be legal. Love. Has. To. Be. Equal. Because it is a bill that does not attempt against anything or anyone but is in favor of a diverse Venezuela that has to recognize equal rights of all its citizenship. Because Venezuela belongs to all of us - including lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals. Friends, from Madrid, I send my full support. If we did it in Spain, we can also do it in Venezuela. Venezuela can and has to be on time with a rendezvous with equality. It has to recognize the equality of its citizens. I am certain we will be able to accomplish this.  That's why, from Spain, I send all my energy, all my strength and the strongest of hugs.

Same-sex couples with marriage licenses from Argentina ask the Venezuelan government to recognize their marriages:  In the meantime, a number of couples holding marriage licenses from Argentina are also taking a different route and have gone to the courts to ask that their marriages be recognized by the Venezuelan government.

A year ago in January Roberto Di Giacomo and José Ramón Merentes went to court to ask that their partnership of 16 years be recognized as a civil union.

On November 30th of 2013 that petition was dismissed along with those of two other couples on the basis that the Venezuelan constitution made it clear that civil unions and marriages were only allowed for heterosexual couples (the petition handed to the National Assembly this morning asks that the constitutional language be changed to lift those restrictions).

But a week before their petition was denied Di Giacomo and Merentes were actually getting married in Argentina which allows marriages between same-sex couples from other countries (that's Mr. Di Giacomo and Mr. Merentes in the photo above receiving a marriage license from a judge in Buenos Aires on November 22nd).

Now they are joining two other couples who received marriage licenses in Argentina in challenging the government to recognize those marriages as valid.

The other two couples are Raymer Diaz and Edwin Erminy and Migdely Miranda and Giniveth Soto Quintana (pictured above at today's rally holding marriage licenses from Argentina).

On December 16th, a civil court turned down the petition by Ms. Miranda and Ms. Soto but they are appealing that decision.

Speaking to a reporter for the National Assembly's website, Ms. Soto explained that her wife Migdely was three months pregnant and that she wanted to be recognized as a married couple to protect her wife and their unborn child.

"We want the legislators of the National Assembly to recognize our child and our family," she said, "we are being forced to emigrate to other [South American] countries such as Argentina where these laws are recognized."

Ms. Soto also said she would be lobbying her uncle Fernando Soto Rojas, an influential member of the ruling socialist party and former president of the National Assembly to gather support for marriage equality among his colleagues.

More scenes from the rally...

Related:

• Venezuelan LGBT rights movement submits proposal for same-sex marriage (Venezuelan Analysis) 
• Venezuelan NGO's submit bill for legalization of same-sex marriage (Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights)
• Venezuela activists petition for same-sex marriage (AFP)
• Venezuela to seek modification of civil code to legalize gay marriage (Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela)
• Additional photos here

Venezuelan government urged to provide political asylum to gay Ugandans

On Wednesday members from a number of "sexually diverse" organizations friendly to the Nicolás Maduro government announced they would petition the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry to grant political asylum to any LGBT Ugandan citizen seeking refuge in the country.

The announcement, carried by the official government news agency AVN, said the groups would submit a written statement to a Foreign Ministry representative urging the government to "suspend any type of collaboration or plans to strengthen a relationship with Uganda by making a public statement addressed to the international community and Uganda and to and grant political asylum to gay Ugandans."

On Thursday, members of the Hugo Chávez Command for Sexual Diversity, Equality Venezuela and the Venezuelan United Socialist Party Youth Committe handed the letter to an an unnamed representative outside the Foreign Ministry offices and said that they decided to speak up as citizens of an important nation.

"The reason we came to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry is that we do not consider the Bolivarian Government to be just any government at this time in the world - at least among third world countries," said Chea Rodriguez speaking to the EFE news agency, adding "this is a country that has great influence."

The LGBT community in Venezuela is as politically polarized as the general Venezuelan citizenship with LGBT allies to the Maduro government preferring to call themselves the "sexually diverse" instead of lesbian, gay, bisexal or transgender.

They have defended him from charges he used homophobic tactics against the opposition in the past and believe that his government will grant them rights never achieved in the many years Hugo Chávez held on to the presidency.

But, as surprising as it is that AVN carried the first reports of plans by these "sexually diverse" organizations to ask the government to condemn Uganda's homophobic policies it remains to be seen if the Maduro government actually responds considering he has also met and enjoys a friendly relationship with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and has never raised a finger to protest Iran's policies towards the Iranian LGBT population.

RELATED:

• Venezuela urged to offer asylum to Ugandan gays (EFE via Global Post)

Photo of the day: Hugo Chavez's brother signs marriage equality petition

Barinas Gobernor Adán Chávez Frias signing marriage equality petition (photos by Luis Carlos Paredes Tapia, used by permission)

Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico City recognize marriage equality. Courts in other regions of Mexico and in Colombia have also granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Advocates in Chile, Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador, Cuba and Costa Rica are demanding equal marriage rights. And here comes Venezuela.

Against all odds and despite the general polarization that defines Venezuelan politics, LGBT advocates on both sides of the political divide launched a signature gathering campaign earlier this year to force the National Assembly to take up the issue.

By September they announced they had collected 40% of the signatures they needed. Transgender rights advocate Tamara Adrian said that organizers might be ready to hand in all needed signatures by the end of the year.

It is the fifth time that LGBT advocates have tried to jump-start a debate on same-sex partnership rights since 1999 when the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez took office.

For all his years in power, it cannot be said that Chávez was particularly homophobic but he also was far from proactive on addressing the needs of LGBT Venezuelans or speaking about it publicly.

One of the rare occasions on which he did discuss same-sex marriage was in 2009 in Italy when a reporter asked him about it. At the time Chávez seemed to indicate he might evolve on the issue but personally was against it.

After those declarations and before his death earlier this year, Chávez and the Great Patriotic Pole party he lead increasingly embraced the LGBT community or the "sexually diverse" as they preferred to call it particularly when trying to draw away LGBT voters from the opposition.

In some ways his hand-picked successor Nicolás Maduro has tried to mimic the inclusive rhetoric but has been less than tactful about it arguably using homophobic innuendo and accusations against his opponents.

In the meantime, LGBT advocates continue to collect signatures in support of a marriage equality law and on Wednesday they ran into Barinas state governor Adán Chávez Frias who was happy to add his sinature to the list.

Governor Chávez Frias happens to be the late president's brother.

It might reflect an increasing willingness among 'Chavistas' to embrace LGBT issues including marriage equality.

Related: The Facebook page for the coalition of LGBT organizations gathering signarures can be found here.

Photo by Luis Carlos Paredes Tapia, used with permission.

Venezuelan interim president Nicolas Maduro: If I were gay I would proudly shout it to the entire world

A month before the Venezuelan electorate goes to the polls to choose their next president in the wake of Hugo Chávez' death the topic of homophobia in the campaign continues to be front page news.

On Monday Hugo Chavez' chosen successor and interim president Nicolás Maduro seemed to echo some homophobic statements from the past by calling himself a someone "who does like women" which some took as a swipe against opposition party candidate Henrique Capriles.

In the past, members of Maduro's campaign have openly questioned Capriles' sexuality and Maduro himself called him a "faggot" during a Chávez campaign rally in March of 2012.  Days later Maduro went on television to deny his use of the expression had been in any way homophobic and to apologize if anyone was offended by it.

Calling themselves the "sexually diverse" which is also the term used by Maduro to refer to the LGBT community a couple of organizations associated with with the Chávez revolution came to Maduro's defense.  Luis Menenses of the Sexually Diverse Revolutionary Front of Zulia said that media had taken Maduro's most recent comments out of context and willingly left off the last part of his statement which they highlighted in capital letters: "I am someone who likes women, and here I have one. It's great how one feels when one kisses a woman OR THE PERSON ONE LOVES" [Video].

The Front argued that those last few words which were omitted in most reports proved that Maduro's comments on Monday were not a homophobic dig at Capriles and instead framed it as inclusive language that embraced forms of love other than heterosexual.

By then Capriles himself had gone on TV and blasted Maduro for his comments calling it homophobic exclusion "absolute fascism" and telling viewers to demand respect for all. "You cannot talk of inclusion if there is exclusion," Capriles said [Video].

"If that's how you want to attack me, let it be," Capriles said, "but from here on I will always demand respect for all. You cannot talk of inclusion if there is exclusion."

Last evening Maduro responded and denied he ever alluded in any way to Caprile's personal life during his comments on Monday.

[Full translated transcript after commentary]

Call it chutzpah. In denying he ever was alluding to Capriles' personal life On Monday he takes several opportunities in yesterday's response to express respect for Capriles "whatever he might be" - as in gay or straight.

In "respecting" Capriles, Maduro also never manages to use his opponent's name once during the five minute statement. Instead, at various times he calls him the "opposition candidate," "Candidate Mr. Loser," "a prissy man with an aristocratic last name" and "Prince of New York."

As Queerty posted today Maduro has previously joked that Capriles spends time in New York with a close friend and last week, as the site puts it "Jacqueline Faria, a senior official in Chavez’s PSUV party, tweeted that Capriles was in Manhattan because 'it’s easier to come out of the closet in New York than in Los Teques,' the capital city of Miranda, where Capriles was governor."

As he has done in the past, Maduro denies he is a homophobe. He explains:

When you live in a town you have to be respectful of the private lives of all human beings. And in terms of sexuality - what today is known as the concept of the sexually diverse - they are the same friends we have known all of our lives - male and female - from the time we were kids. Because we have always respected them.

Maduro also says that if he were gay he'd be proud of it:

If I were gay I'd take ownership of it with pride and shout it to the four winds and I would have no problem loving whoever I had to love with my heart.

He then adds another not so veiled dig at Capriles:

Because the worst homophobe is one who is gay and discriminates against his own. It's similar to a foreman in a slave-owner's farm. A black traitor who whips an African man's back. That's the worst homophobe: He who denies his identity and discriminates against his equals.

He also claims Chávez made a failed attempt to amend the constitution to include anti-discriminatory language:

We introduced a constitutional amendment to acknowledge their existence and the supreme respect the nation has towards our sexually diverse brothers and sisters - and our opponents and the right called for a vote against that amendment.

Maduro is right that there is a conservative right wing in Venezuela who would love to see Capriles win and would oppose any advance in the recognition of LGBT rights in Venezuela.  Neither Capriles on Monday nor Maduro yesterday mentioned any LGBT-friendly legislation they would support if either one wins the election. 

What Maduro fails to mention is that Chávez never made it a personal priority to push the constitutional amendment and that the key foe against it was not the right wing who did not really have the political power under Chávez to oppose it but the Catholic church and their legislative followers on the right and on the left.

Maduro did mention the Catholic church last night in a way that captured worldwide attention and it's a telling statement about whose allegiances Maduro might follow if elected president.

From Reuters:

We know that our commander ascended to the heights and is face-to-face with Christ. Something influenced the choice of a South American pope, someone new arrived at Christ's side and said to him: 'Well, it seems to us South America's time has come.'

That's right. In death, Chávez had a hand in the choice for a new pope.

Chávez, whose death has been increasingly mourned as that of a religious martyr, increasingly used religious rhetoric during his final campaign and as his death got nearer.

Maduro has embraced Chávez religious fervor as his own as he campaigns for the Venezuelan vote.  But the truth is that when it comes to LGBT rights in Venezuela there is no guarantee that Capriles wouldn't do the same if elected.

Here are Maduro's full comments on homophobia from last night:

I said certain things about my relationship with [my wife] Celia and they have begun to manipulate them. So the losing candidate from the tiny minority that is the embittered oligarchy showed up.

I agree with Gustavo Pereira: Our flag and our valor is love and our victory will come when love prevails over rancor and hate. When true peace prevails. Peace along with justice and equality. The type of peace in which we can come to love each other as one and in which she can love her and he can love him and others can love others.

So don't let them come and say I am homophobic, "erreteromophobic," "heterodophobic" or start to invent other nicknames. I did not delve into...

Camarades! The first thing I have to say is that when you live in a town you have to be respectful of the private lives of all human beings. And in terms of sexuality - what today is known as the concept of the sexually diverse - they are the same friends we have known all of our lives - male and female - from the time we were kids. Because we have always respected them.

So much so that we introduced a constitutional amendment to acknowledge their existence and the supreme respect the nation has towards our sexually diverse brothers and sisters - and our opponents and the right called for a vote against that amendment, for example.

So don't be so manipulative, members of the bourgeois media. We show absolute respect because each person has ownership of his or her life.

Second: I did not delve into the sexual life of the opposition candidate. I did not delve into the issue - it was him who assumed it was about him so he responded against me as if I'd said something about his life.

I respect him and I've said it for a long time as well. One time I used a certain word and I apologize for using that word. I have already apologized several times. You remember the term I used, no?

But what happens in Venezuela is that the when that word that escaped from my soul...

Because they want to present themselves as snobs who cannot stop... and I apologize to snobs who are patriotic and there are lots of them as well - but I am talking about pro-imperialist snobs... Please forgive me for that but let me welcome the male and female snobs who are patriotic and pro-Chavez - and we have a lot of them... a lot [laughs].

Now, this mister - who I've previously called a "prissy man with an aristocratic last name" and "Prince of New York" as he has yet to say how he managed to buy the five million dollar apartment he owns there and will never say it - he showed up full of rage towards me and said I was delving into his personal life.

I have never delved into it, I respect him. Whatever he is, I respect him. And we all must respect him. And I am being absolutely serious: We all have to respect him. But don't be such a manipulator! Don't be such a manipulator!

Each one of us takes... I take ownership of my life with pride and I respect each person who takes ownership of their life with pride. Be whatever it may be.

If I were - and please don't clap your hands and I am going to say this with all of my heart - if I were gay I'd take ownership of it with pride and shout it to the four winds and I would have no problem loving whomever I had to love with my heart.

Because the worst homophobe is one who is gay and discriminates against his own. It's similar to a foreman in a slave-owner's farm. A black traitor who whips an African man's back. That's the worst homophobe: He who denies his identity and discriminates against his equals.

We have respect for all. I have not delved into your life, candidate Mr. Loser. Now you'll face another full defeat and this one will be that much worse because what we will achieve on April 14th will be the greatest victory known to this country and we will do it in the name of Hugo Chávez. In his memory. For the example he gave. For his strength. For the greatness of the historical legacy he left us.

Well, compatriots. Look at this: This is how we govern. 

Related:

• Venezuela says U.S. 'Far-Right' Wants to Kill Capriles / Gay row (The New York Times)

Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles: To discriminate against gays is absolute fascism

As the Venezuelan election heats up in the wake of Hugo Chavez' death ugly recriminations have flown back and forth between those who support chosen interim president Nicolás Maduro and opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.

Some of Capriles' supporters have taken to denigrating Maduro for his former life as a poor bus driver exposing existing classist bias while some of Maduro's supporters have revived recent allegations that Capriles is gay and attacked him for his Jewish heritage even though Capriles calls himself a Catholic man.

From Reuters tonight:

Capriles, a descendant of Polish Jews on his mother's side, was a victim of racist and homophobic slurs from Chavez supporters last year. Maduro appeared to allude to his rival's sexuality during Monday's rally.

"I do have a wife, you know? I do like women!" he told the crowd with his wife Cilia Flores at his side, who has served as attorney general but is stepping down to join her husband's campaign.

Though single, Capriles has had various high-profile girlfriends in the past. He scoffs at the personal insults, saying they illustrate the government's aggressive mindset. 

Following those remarks by Maduro this morning a number of LGBT Venezuelans spent the day on social media like Twitter urging Capriles to publicly denounce Maduro's homophobia. Tonight he did just that.

Capriles:

I'd like to send a respectful and considerate message in rejection to the homophobic remarks made by Nicolás [Maduro] today. It's not the first time. I believe in a society without exclusion and that's the way I express it to the country. A society where no one feels excluded based on the way they think, their race, their creed, their sexual orientation. People should go out and reject it.

That's fascism. Absolute fascism. From the extreme right.

If that's how you want to attack me, let it be. But from here on I will always demand respect for all Venezuelans. Because the society that we want to build in Venezuela is a society without exclusion.

You cannot talk of inclusion if there is exclusion. There should be overwhelming rejection of something like that.

It's not the first time that Maduro has called Capriles' sexuality into question. In April of 2012 when Capriles was running against Chávez the then Vice President used the word "faggot" to describe the opposition.

Maduro back in 2012:

That's the ilk of these stuck-up faggot fascists who pretend they can win the elections as they face the Venezuelan public. But they have yet to overcome our community's lineage as liberators and they will never do.

The outrage was such that Maduro appeared on television a few days later with a semi-apology.

Maduro:

Some have tried to manipulate it. What I said at that moment was in the heat of remembering all the passion generated when you recall how all these stuck-up fascists believed they had all power in their hands and went out on a fascist hunt to capture, imprison and kill the people. And how they dared do something that not even Pinochet and his dictatorship dared to do: Attack the Cuban Embassy. In the heat of all that I used some expressions such as 'stuck-up' - and I went further than that.

We all respect the militant sexual diversity community that is active within the Venezuelan United Socialist Party, our organization. Tomorrow, the Great Patriotic Pole will establish the national team and the national organization for sexual diversity. Even in the Foreign Ministry - where I work - they always have known that we respect them and that we have done our work without treating them any different.

In any case, and let me say this to you, if it's the product of a genuine sentiment or a product of whatever it is, if someone from the sexual diversity community felt bothered or discriminated against, I apologize. I am sorry. There is room, within that expression, for someone to have felt somehow offended by an expression that had a different connotation...  There is no reason why I should delve into anyone's sexual condition. That of our adversaries, the opposition's candidate, their leadership or anyone.  Each person is free to do what they want with their lives to achieve happiness. I would never ever get involved with Capriles Randoski or his condition whatever it may be. It's not up to me to define it. That's why I am offering an apology to whomever felt offended or attacked.

That apology would probably carried more weight if supporters of Chávez had not systematically used the same word to describe Capriles at campaign events.  This one goes back to 2010 (lower volume on your computer).

Pablo de Miranda of the United Socialist Party:

We are here to tell the truth to your followers. You are a man without shame, a traitor, a fascist, a cunning thief and a homosexual. And we are saying this because we have proof that even when you opted for a lady named [...] you declared yourself gay to that lady. We have her name, we are giving it to you so you know exactly the kind of governor we have in this state.

No mincing words in that one.

In fourteen years of Chávez rule, the advancement of LGBT rights in Venezulea came to a standstill. Unlike Maduro he never - to my knowledge - expressed a single derogatory word about members of the LGBT community but he also never lifted a single finger to back LGBT-friendly legislation.

Capriles has an uphill battle to emerge victorious when the special presidential election takes place thirty days from now. If he does, his statements tonight mean that he will have the responsibility of proving he means what he says by enacting pro-LGBT legislation soon after he takes the presidency.  If not, Maduro has to prove that he truly means to represent all Venezuelans and not just those who support him.

On March 5th - after Chávez death was announced and before the recent homophobic skirmishes - Maduro said that the "sexually diverse" would be guaranteed protections under a future socialist government.

Maduro:

We will continue to offer guarantees on all levels. From the highest ranks of the political-military leadership of the country to all levels of the popular movement: Community councils, communes, urban committees, water resource committees, electric resource committees, grassroots farming organizations, all grassroots community organizations, the Great Patriotic Pole [political party], the social labor movements, women's rights movements, young people, the sexually-diverse, professionals, technical engineers.

The entire nation has constructed the Great Patriotic Pole. From the [political] revolutionary parties - all of them - the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and their militants and leaders throughout the nation, the Communist Party of Venezuela, the People's Electorate Movement, the UPB, the Tupamaro, Podemos, PPT. All compatriots, all activated, as one man and one woman. As a single patriotic fist. United in Chávez. United in the liberator's dream. United in the construction of a nation of all and for all

UPDATE (3/12/13): Since writing this post on March 11th, several Venezuelan LGBT and HIV prevention organizations including AXA: Activistas por el Arcoiris, Alianza Lambda de Venezuela, ACCSI VIH/Sida and Union Afirmativa have strongly condemned Maduro's words and applauded Capriles for his statements. For the most part these are organizations who were also strongly critical of the Chávez government and what they saw as inaction on LGBT issues.

Throughout the years the Chávez government did count with strong support from a few LGBT organizations including Movimiento Gay Revolucionario de Venezuela and the Frente Sexo-Diverso Revolucionario de Zulia.

Frente released a statement dated March 12th defending Maduro:

To all LGBT, feminist, Afro-decedent, indigenous and disability rights activists, women, men, children, everyone:

The Frente Sexo-Diverso Revolucionario de Zulia responds to all the media trash being lobbed against Nicolás Maduro for statements made yesterday March 11th in Caracas during his registration as a presidential candidate.

His statements were not at all homophobic and here is what he said textually: A mi si me Gustan las Mujeres, que Rico es Besar a una Mujer o al ser que UNO AMA ["I am someone who likes women, it feels great to kiss a woman or the person ONE LOVES"].

That is a reference to the sexually diverse community. The Frente will vote in favor of Maduro based on our loyalty to Chávez.

In addition, his statements on Tuesday, March 5th of 2013 [ed. - see the last video posted above] were very clear: "The sexually diverse are important for the construction of the nation" as Maduro said on the National Channel in front of the civil-military leadership, the presidential Cabinet and the 20 Bolivarian Governors of Venezuela.

Thanks to the Bolivarian Government as led by Commandant Hugo Chávez - to which Maduro has belonged for a long time and continues to belong - they have given an opening the sexually diverse in all social and political areas.

There have been articles within laws and statements against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity submitted before the United Nations and the Organization of American States signed and ratified by Venezuela as a country that guarantees the human rights of the sexually diverse.

In the Nation's Plan, Objective 2.2 says "To build an equal and just society".

Objective 5.3.3.2 says "To put special emphasis on gender relations. Based on this, to support the creation of work groups constituted by women with the goal of reflecting on their family and work life and produce strategies of resistance and liberation, since they suffer the brunt of the dominant culture where the woman is relegated to a secondary role and often suffer explicit forms of violence. The same applies to sexually diverse groups (homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons) forced to live in repressive and humiliating conditions where the only path is the frivolity offered by the capitalist world".

The Frente Sexo-Diverso Revolucionario de Zulia will work to bring Nicolás Maduro to the presidency by providing more than 5,000 votes of the sexually diverse just from Zulia alone.

Signed: Luis Menenses in representation of the Frente Sexo-Diverso Revolucionario de Zulia. Until victory always, we will live on and we will win victory. "Chávez lives, the fight continues".

I'm also reminded that when it comes homophobic expressions, the left doesn't have the ground covered. A right-wing newspaper editor from Spain alleged that Chávez himself was gay in an OpEd that hardly hid his homophobic intention. Chávez's response? He said he was too macho to be gay.

Count us in: A Latin American call to include LGBT individuals in the census

In the United States, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has led efforts to push the government to adopt changes to the national census in ways that better reflect the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities through its "Queer the Census" project.

A U.S. House of Representatives panel took up the issue back in March but it still seems like an uphill battle ("House panel hears about adding LGBT to census survey", The Bay Area Reporter, March 15, 2012).  The idea is that with better data about who we are as a community, government will be able to provide better services.

It's a battle being fought in other parts of the American continent as well.  This might not be a comprehensive listing but it's a sample of similar efforts taking place throughout Latin America.

• Argentina: Passage of a federal marriage equality law in Argentina in 2010 forced the National Census to incorporate questions about same-sex partnership households. Perhaps among the most progressive of census agencies in the world, Argentina also allows transgender individuals to register with their current gender and name even if it's not reflected in their birth certificates or government ID's. 
• Bolivia: In 2011, the Bolivian Ministry of Justice announced that the 2012 census would include specific questions about sexual identity and whether a census taker was lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
• Brazil: In 2010, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics announced it would survey and record data about same-sex partners.
• Colombia: Although it has yet to adopt progressive LGBT policies when it comes to the national census, in 2011 the Colombian government announced it would survey prisoners as to whether they identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex. Some LGBT advocates raised alarms about the potential for violence should a person's sexual identity be exposed in a general prison setting but the National Penitentiary and Jail Institute insisted the measure would help them to safeguard the safety of every LGBTI person in the system.
• Cuba: Influential gay blogger Francisco Ródriguez, who blogs as Paquito el de Cuba, has mounted a personal campaign to have the National Office of Statistics and Information include questions in the 2012 census that would give visibility to the LGBT community in the Caribbean island. Ródriguez says that internal documents and conversations show that the Cuban government is very much interested in instituting these changes but, as of February, he lamented that the Cuban government was being less than forthcoming as to whether they would adopt these changes.
• Venezuela: In 2010, the Venezuelan National Statistics Institute eliminated an "error" message that appeared whenever a census participant tried to register having a same-sex partner at the request of LGBT-rights organization Unión Afirmativa.  It's one of the few positive developments when it comes to LGBT rights under the Hugo Chávez mandate but, officially, same-sex couples in Venezuela can register their partnership in the national census surveys.

Which brings us to Chile.

The Homosexual Liberation Movement (MOVILH) has worked closely with the current center-right Chilean government of Sebastian Piñera to improve the way the Chilean census reflects the reality of the LGBT community. Although not as progressive as the census changes in Bolivia and Argentina, in 2011 the Chilean government announced that it would survey the number of same-sex partnerships in the country.

Today, the MOVILH launched a national campaign urging same-sex couples to register as such in the 2012 census under the theme of "Acknowledge the other half of your orange" ("Tu media naranja" or "Your half orange" is a common term of endearment used in Latin America to refer to one's partner).

The campaign includes a stand alone interactive site and an amazing Census 2012 video which I have taken the liberty of translating. 

Here it is in full:

Reaction:

• Opinion: Do gay people count? (The American Prospect, April 27, 2012)

Year in Review, pt. 4: Argentina's gays get to marry, Rev. Ruben Diaz thanks Blabbeando, Piñeiro goes to prison

Previously:

• Pt. 1: Esteban Arce keeps his job, the man formerly known as Luke Sissyfag riles NOM's nerves
• Pt. 2: Wedded bliss in Mexico City, transgender blood on Peruvian Flag, Lisa M. comes out
• Pt. 3: World Cup fever, Jorge Steven Lopez's killer brought to justice, Lady Gaga's Little Monsters in Monterrey

Moment of the year, captured on video: By a margin of 33-27, the Argentinean Senate voted to approve a marriage equality law in the early morning of July 15th and, by doing so, Argentina became the first Latin American country to allow gays to marry.  President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner signed the bill into law on July 21st and couples started getting married on July 31st.

They weren't the first couples to marry in Argentina, though.  That honor went to longtime HIV prevention activists and Argentinean LGBT Federation members Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre, who got married on December 29th, 2009, after a court gave them the go-ahead.

They also became the first gay couple to marry in all of Latin America. Mexico City might have approved their landmark marriage equality law on December 21st, 2009, but the law only went into effect in March of 2010.

Best television ad of the year: In the days before the Argentinean Senate vote, we saw the following incredible television ad. It was produced and written by Mati Caseaux and directed by Juan Schnitman.  I'm not sure if it has gotten any end of the year "Best Commercial of 2010" accolades, but if it hasn't, it should.

On a side-note, media watchdog webportal Mediaite covered my Twitter senate vote coverage (!).

Fidel Castro says he is to blame for past persecution against the LGBT community in Cuba: In August, former Cuban president Fidel Castro took responsibility for all past abuses against the LGBT community in the island.  It was a stunning admission, tempered by his assertion that he personally has never had a homophobic bone in his body and that, if gays were sent to "internment" camps, well, that should be blamed on the incidental homophobia among the Cuban population at the time.

NYS Senator Ruben Diaz says marriage equality will happen in New York State soon --- as a sign of the end of days: I know! Isn't that special. Read all about it here.  Thanks for the marriage equality endorsement, Reverend!

NYS Senator Ruben Diaz thanks Blabbeando: I know! Isn't that special. Read all about it here. WTF!

Jacobo Piñeiro goes to prison: In a case I have followed since March of 2009, a man who confessed to brutally stabbing a gay couple in Vigo, Spain, was finally convicted and sent to prison after an earlier verdict had cleared him of all murder charges.

That earlier verdict was vacated by a higher court earlier this year and, after a new trial was ordered, Piñeiro was released after three years of being held in prison.

In October, a court reached a different verdict and the judge sentenced Piñero to the maximum allowable time in prison: 25 to 58 years, minus time already served.

Venezuelan mural defaced by homophobes, repaired: A street mural in the Chacao District of Venezuela portraying two men kissing which was defaced with dark graffiti paint and homophobic epithets. The mural, which urged tolerance towards others and was part of a campaign sponsored by the Chacao Mayor's Office to improve the city's living environment. Darient, the graffiti artist who painted the mural, returned and painted another male couple kissing. Instead of urging "tolerance," the new mural promotes "respect."

Which brings us, finally, to December.

HIV/AIDS: There were problematic HIV prevention campaigns launched in New York City and Chile, plus a Puerto Rican first lady who thought there already was a cure.

Miami homobigots protest Ricky Martin and Univision: The protest didn't really go anywhere but it was certainly shameful.

And I'll close with one of my favorite stories of the year: The Argentinean version of Big Brother drafted this cutie-patootie as one of the contestants!

...aaaaaaaaaand that's a wrap! That was the Blabbeando year that was.

Year in Review, pt. 2: Wedded bliss in Mexico City, TG blood on Peruvian Flag, Lisa M. comes out

Continuing a look at the Blabbeando year in review:

Wedded bliss in Mexico City: In March, a marriage equality law approved by the Mexico City legislature in December finally went into effect, making it the first region in all of Latin America to allow same-sex couples to marry.

The law would survive a constitutional challenge filed at the behest of Mexican president Felipe Calderón when the country's Supreme Court ruled in August that it was constitutionally solid. The court would also rule that granting adoption rights to same-sex couples was constitutional and that all Mexican states were required to legally recognize any and all same-sex marriages recognized by the Mexico City (not all states are happy about it).

In October, La Jornada reported 417 same-sex couples had married in Mexico since the law went into effect.

Washing trans blood from the Peruvian flag: In March, I also wrote about an unusual transgender rights protest in the northern Peruvian city of Tumbes in which, in front of cameras, participants called for the church and state to stop discriminating against them and urged those in power to create  a better employment environment for them. What made the protest unusual and striking was that the women pulled out a Peruvian flag they said had been stained with their blood and, using a bucket of water and soap, they proceeded to wash the flag to call attention to all the hate crimes committed against the transgender community throughout Peru.

Hiram, a friend no more: Locally, disgraced former New York City Councilmember and New York State Senator Hiram Monserrate lost a last-ditch attempt at remaining in politics by embracing homophobia. Once a marriage equality ally, Monserrate was one of the few Democratic State Senators who a marriage equality bill and helped to sink it.  To think I once called Hiram a personal friend.

Ricky: Oh, and Ricky Martin came out.

A Cardinal talks, the authorities follow: In April, I wrote about Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodriguez of the Dominican Republic and his latest pet peeve: The public behavior he'd observed at Duarte Park, a popular public gathering spot for members of the LGBT community of Santo Domingo.  Aparently, he used a Sunday sermon to blast the "abhorrent" behavior he'd seen.  His work carries power and, for the next week, local media parroted his calls for authorities to clean up the park.  Within days the police department was telling media that they had linked illicit drug sales in the park to a group of homosexuals and giving a vow to shut down any park vendor activity that attempted against "morals and good behavior." It's a sign of how much sway the Cardinal holds over the local authorities. Scary for a man of the cloth who has been known to describe gays as "faggots".



KFC turns men gay: Bolivian president Evo Morales momentarily became the world's laughing stock - and torpedoed any serious coverage of an important international environmental conference being held in his country - when he used his key note address to argue, among other things, that feminine hormones injected into chicken from non-organic farms could cause "deviations in a man's being".

How that could be interpreted as anything but saying eating non-organic chicken could make some men gay escapes me, but the Bolivian government's defense later argued that Morales had said no such thing - and that the charge of homophobia had been a ploy by imperialists nations to overshadow coverage of the environmental summit.

Local Bolivian LGBT organizations begged to differ and sent a letter asking for clarification.  The government responded by saying the wished to affirm their support for the LGBT community in Bolivia --- and stating, once again, that Morales "under no circumstance" had been referring to homosexuality in his speech. Watch the video and see if you agree.

Bad, bad, Vatican: Also in April, responding to a call for action by the International LGBTI Association (ILGA), advocates in Venezuela,  Argentina and Peru held rallies against the Vatican to reject links the Vatican hierarchy were making between pedophilia and homosexuality.

Soccer players in love: I also found what must be one of the hottest gay scenes to play in a Latin America telenovela.  It's from "Botineras" and, in it, two men who play soccer players and have fallen in love have sex for the first time. Doing some follow-up, I also found scenes from a shoot one of the actors - who says he's straight - did for a gay webportal. Meet Cristian Sancho.



Hey ladies! Oh, and Puerto Rican salsa/reggaeton singer Lisa M. came out (it's a video from VEVO, which means it might not be available to watch in your region).

Venezuela: Homophobes deface mural, LGBT advocates push back

This comes from our friends at Venezuela's Union Afirmativa and at Spain's Dos Manzanas - and has a somewhat happy ending:

Earlier in the month, the locality of Chacao in Venezuela celebrated the annual "Cooltura Hip Hop" festival with full support from the Chacao Mayor's Office.  The event drew hip hop artists throughout Venezuela and, as part of the festival, a number of local street graffiti artists were also granted permission to design street murals that promoted a better living environment for the residents of Chacao.

The concept chosen by graffiti artist Darient was "tolerance" and, with that in mind, she painted the mural pictured above in which a woman of Afro-Venezuelan background asks "Tolerate?" and a pink sign below the image of two men kissing states "Tolerate!".

Reaction against the mural came fast: According to Dos Manzanas, local church leaders spread rumors that the Mayor's Office had asked the artist to come up with a new concept and to remove the image.  Darient, the mural's author, denied any of this was true but joined local LGBT organizations and leaders in asking Emilio Graterón, the Mayor of Chacao, to publicly back the mural.  "The situation represented an enormous challenge for the Chacao Mayor's Office," said Dos Manzanas, "It would be paradoxical not to tolerate a mural that precisely promoted the value of tolerance".

The Mayor's Office responded on November 19th and said that the mural would remain standing as it was created. It was exactly the next day that the mural was defaced with black spray paint covering the image of the two men kissing and black lines covering the pink sign that says "Tolerate!" (see above).

Near the mural, a wall was also spray-painted to deliver a clear message: "Muerte al Maricón" (Death to the faggot).

This elicited the first public response by the Chacao Mayor... through Twitter: "I reiterate my position" Mayor Graterón twitted, "I condemn the vandalism to which the mural of tolerance was subjected; Dialogue is the medium, it's [about] respect for one another".

The next day he released a lengthy statement on the issue titled "Public Morals and Tolerance" in which he defended the mural. Unfortunately, perhaps in an attempt to assuage critics from the fundamentalist religious rights, in the statement he also urges people to respect homosexuals in the same way Christ had extended his charitable love towards Mary Magdalene, "the most famous prostitute in town", and also invokes John Paul II in stating that the Vatican leader did not consider homosexuality in itself to be a sin - just the sexual acts between members of the same gender.

Sigh. So much for mayoral valor.

Anyway, DARIENT herself went back to the mural she had created and wrote "Su amor no daña, your hate does!!! - EN RECUPERACIÓN" (Their love doesn't create damag, your hate does!!! - IN REPAIR).

Sunday, a group of LGBT rights organizations and advocates, led by Unión Afirmativa, called for a community gathering to accompany DARIENT as she repaired her mural.

This time the graffiti artist didn't write the word "Tolerate!" on her mural.  Instead, she expanded the image of the two men kissing and wrote "Respect!" under it.

No word on whether the Office of the Mayor is pursuing any leads on those who might have defaced the mural or wrote the death threats on nearby walls.

Below, an image of Darient with a friend next to the repaired mural. Thank you DARIENT!

Other sources:

• LGBT Support for DARIENT Facebook photo album #1 here
• LGBT Support for DARIENT Facebook photo album #2 here

NOTE: According to Wikipedia, Chacao is one of five municipalities that make up the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.

IGLHRC gains consultative status in the UN, Venezuela only country in America to vote 'No'

Yesterday, I was thrilled to hear that the US-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) had gained consultative status by the United Nations (Official press release here).

This came at the end of a prolonged fight to block the accreditation by leaders and representatives from some of the most homophobic nations in the world as well as fundamentalist religious institutions.

"Today's decision is an affirmation that the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have a place at the United Nations as part of a vital civil society community," said Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC Executive Director. "The clear message here is that these voices should not be silenced and that human rights cannot be denied on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity."

In the United States Republican Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Trent Franks (R-AZ) had urged other countries to vote against accrediting IGLHRC.

Today, they'll be glad to know they were on the same side as Venezuela.

Yes, of the thirteen nations that voted against the measure, the only country in the American continent was Venezuela.Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations Jorge Valera (pictured) has yet to explain his vote as does the government of Hugo Chavez.

An aside: Yesterday the White House released a brief statement by President Barack Obama, welcoming the news:

I welcome this important step forward for human rights, as the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (ILGHRC) will take its rightful seat at the table of the United Nations. The UN was founded on the premise that only through mutual respect, diversity, and dialogue can the international community effectively pursue justice and equality. Today, with the more full inclusion of the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission, the United Nations is closer to the ideals on which it was founded, and to values of inclusion and equality to which the United States is deeply committed.

Hm, it's not the International "Lesbian and Gay" Human Rights Commission. They switched those two words around, and also got the acronym wrong. It's not "ILGHRC" , it's "IGLHRC". Oooopsie! A good thing, though, for the president to recognize the great news.

UPDATE: Thanks to Gerónimo Desumala, who left a comment on this post, here is a link to a description of the vote at the United Nations as well as the debate that preceded and followed.

A Venezuelan delegate stated the 'no' vote was not based on the nature of the agency's work but, instead, on procedural issues...

Speaking in explanation of vote after the vote, Venezuela’s delegate said her country’s Constitution forbade discrimination on grounds of economic or social status.  Venezuela had voted against the granting of consultative status to the organization for reasons of procedure, not because it had substantive objections to that organization’s work.  The examination of applications for consultative status was the responsibility of the Non-Governmental Organization Committee.

She said the Council did not have enough information to make a clear, objective opinion on the issue and it should, thus, respect the Committee’s recommendations.  Any decision adopted regarding the consultative status would establish a negative precedent, opening the door for any State to selectively bring the Council’s attention to applications for consultative status based on national interest.

Sean Penn receives official invite to Cuba's annual "Day Against Homophobia" cultural summit

[UPDATE: Sean Penn will go to Cuba, just not next week (May 11, 2010)].

A week from now or so, several countries around the world will be officially and unofficially observing the annual "International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia" (IDAHO).

The events, loosely coordinated through a French website are the brainchild of French academic figure Louis-Georges Tin, who launched the IDAHO idea in 2004.

This year, the IDAHO committee has made a call for participating organizations to hold a "Great Global Kiss-In". Participants are being encouraged to call for a public gathering at a national or local monument, urge poeple to carry the flag of their country, wear clothing that represents their nation, hold a public kiss-in and tape it and then upload it at the Global Kiss-In page.

So far, 36 localities are listed on the page, including some in the United States (Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco at the Harvey Milk Plaza, and St. Louis).

The Latin American countries listed so far are Colombia, and Peru.

Not listed in the kiss-in page but holding their third annual week-long "Day Against Homophobia" cultural summit will be Cuba, under the auspices of the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) and it's director Mariela Castro Espín, daughter of current Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

The final version of the official program, which describes an array of events taking place in Havana from May 11th through the 18th, includes educational workshops and panels (one event will bring together pro-LGBT religious organizations), concerts (including an event called "Rockers Against Homophobia"), receptions (a mother's day themed event is limited to providing a space for transgender people and their moms), photo and art exhibits.

There will also be an incredible number of LGBT-themed television and film screenings including Germany's "Aimée and Jaguar", India's "Fire", Argentina's "XXY", Great Britain's "Kinky Boots", Taiwan's "Beautiful Boxer", Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Querelle" and Cuba's "Where Forgetfulness Does Not Live".  Cuba has certainly come a long way since it wouldn't even allow it's own "Strawberries and Chocolate" to be shown in local theaters.

The United States is also represented by the 2003 TV movie "Soldier's Girl" the 2001 documentary "De Colores: Lesbian and gay Latinos", 2002's "Unconditional Love" with Kathy Bates, and, perhaps most surprisingly, an episode from the 4th season of "Grey's Anatomy" titled "The Becoming" which features this storyline.

What is not surprising is that Gus Van Sandt's "Milk" will also be screened. In March of 2009, CENESEX announced that a screening of the film would be a key component in a new CENESEX initiative against homophobia and at this year's cultural summit it will be screened once again to close the week-long event.  A panel discussion will also follow.

At a press conference held on Wednesday to announce details of the summit, Mariela Castro said that she had sent a special invite to Sean Penn, the American actor who plays the role of Harvey Milk in the film, to attend the screening.

"We've sent him a message to Haiti to see if he sees it fit to come on the day we screen his movie to debate it," said Castro (Sean Penn has spent the month in Haiti helping people affected by the recent catastrophic earthquake).

Controversy: In 2008, Penn came under criticism for hanging out with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Raul Castro (before he became the island's president) for an "investigative report" for The Nation and The Huffington Post.  It wasn't the first time he'd visited with Chavez (their first meeting came in 2006) and he'd also met Cuba's then president Fidel Castro on an earlier trip to Cuba.

The week "Milk" premiered in the United States was the same week The Nation published the Sean Penn piece in 2008 and it drew a particularly myopic attack from the gay right in the United States in the form of an essay published in The Advocate authored by James Kirchick ("Sean Penn's Blind Spot").  At the time, I didn't necessarily disagree that Sean Penn should have been criticized (at the time I wrote "I have little patience for Hollywood actors going on 'fact finding trips' to countries like Venezuela and Cuba when it's obvious that the access they get to the upper echelons of power is due to their political leanings and their fame") but in Kirchick's diatribe he ignored the fact that on LGBT issues there had been a sea-change when it comes to Cuba (Kirchick, to give you an idea of where he was coming from, also went to endorse John McCain in the last presidential election).

But, then again, when it comes to LGBT issues in Cuba, things remain far from perfect and there is reason to believe that the rights of LGBT political dissenters in the island are still being curtailed,  That's why I also thought that Cleve Jones' defense of Sean Penn, also on the pages of The Advocate, was a bit naive as well.

I would actually love to see Sean Penn be able to make it to the "Milk" screening in Havana on May 18th.  I might not agree with his political views or stands but it would shine a light on some of the more positive developments when it comes to LGBT rights in Cuba in recent years.  If he does show up, I'll give you the update when it comes.

Extra fact: Radio Guantanamo, broadcasting from Cuba, reports that Guantanamo will also join Havana in observing an international response against homophobia. Activities include screenings of movies like the United States films "Quinceañera" and "Gods and Monsters" and a special gala on May 17th to celebrate the "International Day Against Homophobia".  The events are sponsored by CENESEX.

Marriage equality in Cuba: A reader has also tipped me to the following YouTube video from a show that was broadcast on Venezuelan television on May 6th (its the 1st of 6 clips from the show). Venezuela, following Cuba's example, is launching their own version of a government-sponsored series of cultural events this coming week around the IDAHO theme. The invited guests are Mariela Castro Espin and Gabriela Ramirez, the Venezuelan government's ombudsperson. 

I won't translate the whole thing but, early in the clip, at the :57 second mark, Castro says the following:

...and there we are indeed proposing, within the Family Code, for the establishment of, the recognition of legal unions, we don't say 'marriage' because it would create a lot of controversy, we'll leave that category to the heterosexual world, and we are proposing another category, which would be marriage between people of the same sex, and that their right to adopt is also recognized...

Latin American LGBT advocates protest the Vatican's handling of child abuse cases

A couple of weeks ago the Europe-based International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, better known for their old name and acronym International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), joined Italian LGBT advocates to call for worldwide protests against the Catholic Church and the Vatican. Their reason?

From their alert:

On April 13 the number two in the Vatican hierarchy, the Pope’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, claimed that there is a link between homosexuality and paedophilia.

The LGBT movement worldwide has risen up against this false, despicable and anti-scientific statement from the Vatican, which is trying to deflect attention from priests’ sex crimes by blaming LGBT people.

While they are trying to hide the truth about the abuses perpetrated against innocent children, by making absurd parallels between homosexuality and paedophilia, ILGA and the Italian LGBT movement has launched an appeal to all citizens and associations all over the world to join an international protest against child abuse and support for victims in front of the Vatican embassies or the main Catholic churches.

Turning the paedophilia issue into a matter of sexual orientation, as the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone did, can only lead to failing to address the serious allegations coming from around the world. The point is not whether to identify the sexual orientation of paedophiles, but firmly prosecute those responsible for such abuses, especially if they have an educational or spiritual role.

The Catholic Church must answer to the courts and the world public opinion for the serious cover-up occurred worldwide. This is our call, to all women and men of goodwill, of any religion, who cannot be silent in front of these abuses against innocent children. Take Action Now! Contact your local lgbt association to organise a protest in front of the Vatican embassy or the main catholic church of your city.

LGBT advocates throughout the world have answered the call.  AFP reports that more than 100 people gathered in Paris on Saturday while a number of agencies reported a demonstration in Rome, Italy, on the same day.  On April 4th, Easter Day, a number of people here in New York, mostly members of the LGBT activist group Queer Rising, also protested outside New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Meanwhile, in Latin America, there were very visible reactions from advocates in Venezuela, Argentina and Peru.

Venezuela: On Friday, the Venezuelan LGBTI Network asked supporters to congregate at La Previsora tower at Plaza Venezuela in Caracas and participate in a procession to the Vatican's embassy. 

Holding signs that read, among other things, "Pedophilia is a crime, homosexuality is not", marchers arrived at the embassy and handed a statement "repudiating the discriminatory attitude of the church against the human and civil rights of gays and lesbians".

An article in Aporrea also indicates that activists in neighboring country Colombia also staged a protest on April 17th at Bogota's main cathedral but there are no other details.

Participants of the Venezuela action included renown transgender activist Tamara Adrián (holding the sing in the photo), José Merentes (standing behind her), Carlos Aray and representatives from several Venezuelan LGBT organizations. 

Argentina: The Argentinian Homosexual Community (CHA), one of the leading LGBT organizations in the country (link here), also called for a protest outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires. MDZ says it was a small group of people (so was the one at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York).  Participants carried similar signs as those carried by activists in Venezuela: "Abuse is a crime, homosexuality is not".

Another one read "We express our rejection of the abuse against boys and girls, let's denounce the Vatican's silence."

Crítica also has a report which includes an image of the protest.

Peru: "Neither prayer nor oration will stop a rapist" says the sign held by an LGBT Peruvian advocate in the photo to the right.

LGBT advocates in Lima, Peru, organized perhaps the most successful of the recent protests, at least in the American continent.  El Comercio reports that over a hundred supporters of the LGBT Peruvian Network gathered outside the residence of the Vatican's diplomatic representative in Lima (link here and photo at the top of the page).

The protest, which had been announced days earlier, also drew an estimated thirty counter-protester, says the paper.  They arrived an hour early and waited for the LGBT advocates by counting the beads on their rosaries and praying.

Once the LGBT advocates arrived, the paper reports that there were non-violent clashes for more than two hours.  It culminated when a Catholic priest named Carlos María Stiegler stepped out of the residence to shout at the activists that they were "the work of the devil".

"This manifestation is not God's work," he said, "the Devil is present here."

"To cover a crime is also a crime," responded the LGBT advocates.

Speaking for the LGBT advocates, Marbel Reyes told the EFE news syndicate that the Network had kept their protest peaceful even when Stiegler attempted to proffer his blessings upon those gathered (supposedly to drive away the devil inside them).

And, while few in the United States paid attention, the US right-wing religious right certainly did.

The US-funded and Peruvian-based ACI Prensa highlighted the good work of those who gathered to defend the Vatican's sorry record on child abuse and saluted those who would stand up to a "small group of hostile feminists and homosexuals".

They also provided the pro-Vatican video below...