by Rex Wockner
Venezuela's National Assembly is set to legalize same-sex unions with a new "associations of coexistence" law, MP Romelia Matute told reporters March 20.
She said the law will extend "juridical and patrimonial effects," likely meaning the legal rights and obligations of marriage, including inheritance rights.
The law also will guarantee that people who change their gender will have the "right to recognition of their identity and the expedition or modification of the documents associated with identification."
Matute said heterosexuals historically "have been cruel" to gay people and "the revolution is about taking care of those who have been excluded."
However, on March 25, Marelis Perez, chairwoman of the Assembly's Family, Women and Youth Committee, on which Matute sits, contradicted Matute's statements, reported Latino-issues blogger Andres Duque.
"The Gender Equity and Equality Bill establishes respect for those who have a sexual option, safeguards their human rights, calls for no discrimination, but it is something different from granting legal (recognition) to homosexual unions," Perez told El Tiempo newspaper. "That is not the objective of this law."
She said civil unions will be the subject of a different bill to be considered later.
