GUATEMALA:
Concern Over Bill that
Would Restrict
Definition of ‘Family’
By Inés Benítez
GUATEMALA CITY, (IPS) -
Human rights groups and
activists for the rights
of sexual minorities
have expressed alarm at
a draft law that the
Guatemalan Congress is
preparing to pass, which
would eliminate single
parents as well as
same-sex couples from
the official definition
of "family."
But parliamentary Deputy
Carlos Eduardo Velásquez,
of the small right-wing
Unity of National Change
(UCN) party, told IPS
that "the law defends
the family and prevents
the concept of marriage
from being distorted.
Marriage cannot be
between homosexuals."
Velásquez is one of the
sponsors of the
"Integral Protection for
Marriage and Family
Act", under which only a
nuclear family made up
of a father, mother and
their children would be
defined as a "family."
The draft law states
that "family essentially
originates, exclusively,
from the conjugal union
between a man and a
woman…through marriage
or through a legally
declared de facto union
and other social forms,
such as a religious
ceremony or ritual,
custom or cultural
practice, as the only
natural design."
The draft law,
introduced to Congress
in October 2005, is
pending final approval
by the legislature.
In an open letter sent
to the Guatemalan
Congress Monday, the New
York-based Human Rights
Watch (HRW) urged
legislators to vote
against the draft law,
because it would "bar
single parents as well
as same-sex couples from
the definition of
‘family,’ and threatens
the legal status of
children conceived
through reproductive
technologies."
Velásquez, however, said
HRW was "taking things
out of context." He
argued that the draft
law does not explicitly
state that single-parent
households are not
considered families, and
that children conceived
through assisted
reproduction are not
even mentioned.
But the draft law
extends the definition
of "family" only to
"children procreated as
a result of the natural
union" between a man and
a woman, with one single
exception: adoption.
"We agree with HRW
because passing a law
that excludes sexual
diversity generates an
environment of even more
violence and aggression"
towards sexual
minorities, Claudia
Acevedo, head of the
Association of Liberated
Lesbians (LESBIRADAS),
told IPS.
The activist mentioned
the Yogyakarta
Principles on the
application of
international human
rights law in relation
to sexual orientation
and gender identity,
adopted in the
Indonesian city of that
name and launched in
Geneva in 2007 by a
group of 29
international human
rights experts.
The Yogyakarta
Principles establish
that "Everyone has the
right to found a family,
regardless of sexual
orientation or gender
identity", and urge
states to "Ensure that
laws and policies
recognise the diversity
of family forms,
including those not
defined by descent or
marriage".
But the "Integral
Protection for Marriage
and Family Act" would
require all
representatives of the
Guatemalan state to
support the law’s
definition of marriage
and family in
international as well as
national settings, and
would make it a crime to
do otherwise.
"We are not seeking
same-sex marriage or
adoption by same-sex
couples, but merely the
possibility of enjoying
basic legal rights,"
said Acevedo, who added
that the rights of gays
and lesbians in
Guatemala are often
trampled because of
their sexual
orientation.
"The constitution
establishes that we all
have the same rights,"
said Velásquez, who
added however that
because "homosexuality
is a preference, not a
right," the constitution
defends homosexuals "as
people, but not their
preferences."
"The aim of this bill is
to strip certain
partners, parents, and
children of rights and
recognition all families
deserve," says Juliana
Cano, a researcher with
HRW’s lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and
transgender rights
programme, in the
group’s open letter to
Congress.
"This bill takes aim at
lesbian and gay couples,
but it has almost half
of Guatemalan children
and parents in its
sights," says Cano.
"Targeting children and
their caregivers in the
name of a political
agenda is not only
unjustifiable, it is
morally reprehensible."
HRW says in the letter,
which was published on
its web site in Spanish
and English, that if the
law is approved, nearly
40 percent of Guatemalan
families will no longer
be considered as such
because they are not
typical nuclear
families.
"Crucial health services
now provided for single
parents, their children,
and indigenous families
under a 2001 law could
be taken away," the
rights group warns. The
organisation also notes
that international
bodies such as the
United Nations Committee
on the Rights of the
Child and the Office of
the United Nations High
Commissioner for
Refugees have recognised
the need to respect
different forms of the
family.
"The Convention on the
Rights of the Child, to
which Guatemala is a
party, protects children
from discrimination on
the basis of their
parents’ or caregivers’
status," says the open
letter, which adds that
"Guatemala has also
ratified the
International Covenant
on Civil and Political
Rights, which the U.N.
Human Rights Committee
has held to ban
discrimination on the
basis of sex and sexual
orientation."
But according to
Velásquez, HRW "is
fighting in favour of
homosexual marriage, and
the people of Guatemala
do not want homosexual
marriage."
He said the draft law
had the support of
88,000 signatures
collected by churches
and other organisations.
Carlos Romero, spokesman
for the Guatemalan
National Network of
Sexual Diversity and
HIV, which groups 18
different organisations,
told IPS that "They are
delegitimising the way
we live. It is terrible
that we are seen as
second-class citizens."
The two presidential
candidates who will be
competing in the Nov. 4
runoff election have
both made it clear that
they are opposed to
homosexual marriage.
"God said Adam and Eve,
not Adam and Steven,"
said Álvaro Colom, the
candidate of the
centre-left National
Union of Hope, at a
forum organised in July
by the Evangelical
Alliance of Guatemala.
His rival, retired
general Otto Pérez
Molina of the right-wing
Patriot Party, who is
ahead of Colom according
to the latest polls,
told the same forum that
he was against adoption
by same-sex couples.
Activist Romero,
meanwhile, criticised
"meddling" by religious
groups in legislative
matters, and called for
equal rights and
recognition of same-sex
couples.
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