The Venezuelan Partido Federal Republicano (Republican Federal Party) – the centre-right wing party just two years ago – is supporting the well-known activist José Ramon Merentes as a openly gay candidate for the National Assembly in the December election.
 

 “José Merentes is well known for his action for human rights in general, and for lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) people in particular”, commented Louis-Georges Tin of IDAHO.  “His contribution is appreciated not only in his country, but also abroad, and this is why, being the leader of the International Day Against Homophobia, I am very glad to work with him.

Merentes is the national correspondent of IDAHO for Venezuela.

“In the name of all the other national correspondents for IDAHO, I can say that we are all very happy and proud of our friend, and we also want to congratulate the Partido Federal Republicano for choosing somebody whose action, should he be elected, would definitely improve the condition of LGBT people and reinforce the sense of democracy in Venezuela, Tin said.

In 1999, José Merentes, who is General Coordinator for the gay-rights group Affirmative Union, entered a gay marriage request to the National Assembly’s Constitutional Assembly when the country’s current constitution was written and voted on by the Venezuelan people.

This caused a sensation.  Not only was Merentes’ proposal firmly rejected, but the constitution ended up with a statement in Article 77 that marriage is restricted to being between a man and a woman.

In an open letter published on the Spanish-language Cantv.net website (http://foros.cantv.net/forum/forum_ posts.asp?TID=46518&PN=1&get=last), Merentes said that the Partido Federal Republicano had taken a brave stance with inclusion in its manifesto of equality rights for gays.

“ I have been invited to coordinate the party’s human rights policy which will give me the opportunity to  [include] sexual diversity and non-discrimination,” he wrote.

“This recognition shows that the party is aware of human rights and is prepared to defend them.”

LINKS

Partido Federal Republicano website (in Spanish)

International Day Against Homophobia website: