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# Venezuelan president urges parliament to consider marriage equality bill
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/venezuelan-president-urges-parliament-to-consider-marriage-equality-bill/
- Published: 2020-10-26T08:45:05.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-26T07:33:25.000Z
- Description: Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, 57, addressed the country’s national assembly on Thursday 22 October, asking members to consider the passage of a marriage equality bill.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Politics, Pride, Queer Corner, LGBTQ, LGBTQ Marriage, Marriage equality, Pope Francis, South America

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nicolas-maduro-1.jpg)

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro

Venezuelan president **Nicolas Maduro**, 57, addressed the country’s national assembly on **Thursday 22 October**, asking members to consider the passage of a marriage equality bill following **Pope Francis’**[ statement](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/pope-francis-supports-same-sex-civil-unions/) of support for same-sex civil unions. Same-sex marriage is currently illegal in the Roman-Catholic country, but the Pope was recently seen in an interview saying: *“Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family.”* This is the first time he has explicitly said LGBTQ+ people should be entitled to legal recognition for their relationships.

According to [**Reuters**](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-lgbt/venezuelas-maduro-citing-pope-asks-congress-to-consider-same-sex-marriage-idUSKBN27737E?ref=scenemag.co.uk), Maduro followed up on Francis’ statement, saying: *“I have friends and acquaintances who are very happy with what the Pope said yesterday…I will leave that task, the task of LGBTQ+ marriage, to the next National Assembly.”* If Venezuela – which currently has few legal [protections](https://www.equaldex.com/region/venezuela?ref=scenemag.co.uk) in place for its LGBTQ+ population – was to legalise same-sex marriage, it would become the sixth South American country to do so. It is currently legal in **Argentina**, **Brazil**, **Colombia**, **Ecuador** and **Uruguay.**

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/venezuela-lgbt.jpg)