Compass Gender: Maduro Supports Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage in Venezuela

President Nicolas Maduro has asked the Venezuelan National Assembly to consider legalizing same-sex marriage (Wikimedia Commons).

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked his country’s National Assembly to legalize same-sex marriage on October 22 following Pope Francis’s recent support of LGBTQ+ civil unions.

In the documentary Francesco, in which Pope Francis discussed different social issues, he affirmed that “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family… What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

While the Pope’s affirmations fell short of endorsing gay marriage, Maduro has used the papal approval of same-sex unions to encourage his country toward marriage equality. The Pope’s opinion normally holds weight in the  country, which is 73 percent Catholic.

Maduro told ruling Social Party leaders, “I have friends and acquaintances who are very happy with what the Pope said yesterday. I will leave that task, the task of LGBT marriage, to the next National Assembly.”

This statement by Maduro echoes his past actions. In 2017, he backed same-sex marriage and claimed that the Constituent Assembly would decide on the issue. 

Today, Venezuela trails its South American counterparts in LGBTQ+ rights. A Venezuelan constitutional amendment has defined marriage as “between a man and a woman” since 1999. Conversion therapy remains legal, LGBTQ+ individuals are excluded from military service, and same-sex couples are not permitted to adopt.

In March 2008, Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice ruled that same-sex marriage cannot be authorized, despite discrimination being at odds with the consitution. Same-sex marriage has a 39 percent approval rating in Venezuela, according to a 2016/2017 AmericasBarometer study. 

Right now, it is unclear how a marriage equality law could be passed, even with Maduro’s support. The opposition currently controls the National Assembly, but the party has vowed to boycott the upcoming elections in December, claiming that Maduro plans to rig them. Venezuela faces a tense political situation that will undoubtedly make the path to marriage equality complicated.