Two gay men are running for Congress in the country of Guatemala.
General elections are happening in Guatemala this year, and the political race is rampant with conversation about corruption in the executive branch. In addition, rampant poverty has forced several citizens to emigrate out of the country.
Plus, a new bill called Initiative 5272 was introduced to the country’s Congress in an attempt to “protect the institution of marriage between a man and a woman, freedom of conscience and expression and the right of parents to guide their children in the area of sexuality.”
In midst of all this, two gay men are running for open seatw in Congress, according to the Washington Blade.
Aldo Dávila is the executive director of a Guatemala City-based HIV/AIDS Service group called Asociación Gente Positiva. Now, he’s running for Congress as a member of the Winaq Movement, which is a leftist party made by Nobel Peace prize winner Rigoberta Menchú.
Joining him in the race is Otto René Félix who's a member of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) party. The party was first a guerilla movement that then became an official political party in 1998.
With the general election on the way, both men have expressed their desire to fight Initiative 5272 and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the legislative branch.
“There are many laws at this moment that are violating our rights,” Dávila said to the Washington Blade.
“There is a lot of social inequality in Guatemala,” Félix added.
Felix shares that there’s many LGBTQ citizens who have no access to health care or employment because of bias and discrimination based on sexual orientation. But the two men want to create change within their country.
“I think it is important that we begin to start to be in places where we can make decisions,” said Dávila.
h/t: The Washington Blade
