Debate on a gay marriage bill in the Colombia Senate has been tabled after supporters were assaulted on Thursday.
Colombia Senate President Roy Barreras on Friday postponed next week’s debate over the incident.
“I have decided to suspend the discussion of this debate until we meet with the leaders of this community LGBTI and define with them the rules for participating with full guarantees, but with deep respect for those who think differently,” Barreras said in a statement.
Angelica Lozano, a councilor for Colombia’s capital of Bogota, told Caracol Radio that security guards physically scuffled with a gay rights activist during a congressional forum on the issue.
“The activist began to shout, he was immediately booed, various people rushed over, we are not sure if they were bodyguards,” she said. “But by the end of the struggle we had been hit.”
The forum on the proposed marriage bill was organized by Senators Edgar Espindola and Claudia Wilches, opponents of marriage equality.
In a video posted online, activists are heard chanting, “We deserve respect!” as the activist demands to be heard. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)(APRIL 07, 2013)
The nation’s Constitutional Court in 2011 ordered Congress to approve a law recognizing gay couples before June 20, 2013. If a law is not approved by that date, then “gay couples can go to a notary and with the same solemnity of a heterosexual marriage enter a union similar to one between a heterosexual couple.”
by On Top Magazine Staff
Source – On Top Magazine
