EDGE Chicago

Members of Chicago’s Consulate General of Venezuela attracted attention last month when they marched in the city’s Pride Parade, an event that attracted over 450,000 onlookers.

The Venezuelan consular contingent marched alongside members and supporters of the Gay Liberation Network, the city’s principal LGBT activist organization, touting a large flag of their nation while smiling and waving at observers. Their decision to participate in the parade was a step of solidarity, according to Rixio Barrios, the office’s deputy counsel.

"We were thrilled to participate," Barrios said. "We believed it was a great opportunity to show our support to what is almost a universal cause for us. If we talk about equality, we have to talk about minorities, and if we talk about minorities, we have to include everyone. We believe in a multi-polar world where diversity is the fiber of our society."

The consulate’s participation was viewed as "unprecedented" by Gay Liberation Network co-founder Andy Thayer, who thanked the office in an open letter distributed over the organization’s massive e-mail list-serv.

Thayer also acknowledged its pertinence in light of Venezuela’s current consideration of the Organic Law for Gender Equity and Equality, legislation that would criminalize discrimination of LGBT people, in addition to introducing legal protections for same-sex partnerships. President Hugo Chávez supports the legislation, which this week entered into its second round of discussions in the Venezuelan National Assembly before a final vote will ultimately decide its fate.

"When a pro-gay measure, especially of a nationwide variety, is being put forth, we think it should be applauded," Thayer said. "We don’t even have that in this country yet."

The Venezuelan effort still faces strong obstacles from conservative forces who stand in opposition to Chávez’s movement. Previous efforts to write anti-discriminatory provisions for the LGBT community in the 2001 revision of the Constitution were vocally opposed by the Catholic Church. The nation’s Episcopal Church also publicly condemned the new legislation recently.

"It’s important to note the fact that we’re debating it and it’s on the table. We don’t ignore these issues, and we are not an excluding government like the past government," Barrios commented.

Thayer further hoped LGBT and progressive organizations around the world would support the Venezuelan effort to counteract the opposition.

"The bill is currently making its way through assembly and the exact nature of it is still an open question," Thayer added. "What kind of support [Venezuelan] pro-LGBT forces receive could play an important role in whether they get a strong increase in rights or whether they do not."

Barrios also noted the proposed legislation’s global significance, both for the LGBT rights movement and the broader movement to protect minority rights.

"We realize how important it is that this movement is everyone’s movement," Barrios added. "Of course, it is natural that people all over the world will identify with this cause ... In order for the human race to advance, these are the kind of changes that we need to see in the world."