Ricky Martin sharply criticizes proposed changes to Puerto Rico Civil Code
Ricky Martin is among those who have sharply criticized proposed amendments to Puerto Rico’s Civil Code that would rescind LGBTQ rights in the U.S. commonwealth.
Pedro
Julio Serrano, founder of Puerto Rico Para Tod@s, a Puerto Rican LGBTQ advocacy
group, told the Washington Blade transgender Puerto Ricans would no longer be
able to change the gender marker on their birth certificates if the Puerto Rico
Senate approves the proposed
amendments. Serrano said another revision under consideration would “open
the door to allow churches to discriminate” against LGBTQ Puerto Ricans
based on their religious beliefs.
Serrano
noted another amendment would limit abortion rights in Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rico House of Representatives earlier this year approved the amendments. The Senate is expected to vote on them as early as Wednesday.
Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, who is president of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, is known for his vocal opposition to LGBTQ rights.
“We must keep in mind the Senate’s motives to amend the Civil Code,” tweeted Martin on Nov. 7. “Lawmakers are obsessed with provoking a setback in the fight for equality the LGBTQ community has led.”
#PuertoRico Tenemos que
estar atentos a las movidas del Senado para enmendar el código civil. Legisladores obsesionados con provocar un retroceso en la lucha por la igualdad que ha llevado la comunidad lgbtq 🏳🌈— Ricky Martin (@ricky_martin) November 7, 2019
Comité Amplio para la Búsqueda de la Equidad, a coalition of Puerto Rican human rights groups that includes Puerto Rico Para Tod@s and the Puerto Rico Trans Youth Coalition, in a letter they sent to Rivera on Nov. 8 urged him to postpone the vote on the amendments.
“The organizations and professionals who signed this letter have objections to the content of the said bill,” reads the letter, referring to the amendments. “It contains provisions that are harmful to civil rights in the country and to the stability of our legal system.”
Former governor resigned after homophobic, misogynistic messages became public
Former Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, who is a member of the New Progressive Party, on July 24 resigned after a series of homophobic and misogynistic messages between him and members of his administration became public. Martin was among the hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who participated in anti-Rosselló protests that took place in San Juan, the island’s capital, and across the U.S. commonwealth.
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. LGBTQ Puerto Ricans are more susceptible to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the aftermath of the hurricane that killed more than 3,000 people in the U.S. commonwealth.
The Blade
on Monday reached out to a spokesperson for Gov. Wanda Vázquez, a member of the
New Progressive Party who took office in August, for comment.
El Nuevo
Día, a Puerto Rican newspaper, on Monday reported
Vázquez told reporters she will “examine the final bill, and ensure that
nobody’s rights are violated as a matter of law.”
“We
are going to listen to everyone, we are going to evaluate these claims,”
said Vázquez, according to
el Nuevo Día. “We are going to see the final bill and at the end of
the day we will make the determination.”
Wilfred Labiosa, executive director of Waves Ahead and SAGE Puerto Rico, earlier on Monday criticized the Senate’s leadership over the amendments.
“The
way that this government is working is no different from that lead by past Gov.
Rosselló,” Labiosa told the Blade. “They didn’t do any public
hearings and just want to follow the religious conservative agenda without
taking into consideration women and LGBT rights.”
“They
follow the money,” added Labiosa. “They want to stay and control
everything.”
Published at Tue, 12 Nov 2019 01:51:48 +0000