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Ecuador’s Proposed Constitution Causes Rift Between Left and Right

Will this 85% Catholic, Latin American nation ratify a gay-friendly constitution? After all, it was the first in the Western Hemisphere to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation ... and it decriminalized sexual activity between people of the same sex six full years before the United States.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted September 27, 2008
Ecuador’s Proposed Constitution Causes Rift Between Left and Right

In the lead-up to Ecuador’s referendum vote on September 28, some conservatives have labeled a proposed constitution a mariconada (faggotry), complaining that the constitution refers to “families” instead of the unitary “family” and allows for gay marriage. The proposal actually restricts marriage to heterosexual couples but legalizes same-sex civil unions. The new language for this heavily Roman Catholic nation would also ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. 

LGBT activists are celebrating the proposed constitution as a major step forward, building off of a decade of victories. In 1997 the Constitutional Tribunal overturned a section of the Ecuadorian penal code that criminalized sexual activity between people of the same sex, six years before the U.S. Supreme Court voided sodomy laws. The next year, Ecuadorians approved the constitution that is currently in effect, becoming, according to the International Lesbian and Gay Association, the first country in the Western Hemisphere to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

LGBT activists like Leticia Rojas, a leader of Fundación Causana, say the Catholic Church and other forces are trying to exploit homophobia to distract the public from pressing social and economic issues.

"The issues of abortion and homosexuality, gay marriage, are in my opinion just a front," she said. "They are using the referendum and the constitution to talk about moral issues, but in the end it has more to do with the church’s economic interests."

Activists also accuse the church of initially giving the Constituent Assembly a green light on civil unions -- and then turning on the proposal. In an April letter to the assembly, the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference said, "The stable union of a couple, regardless of their sex or sexual preference ... should generate the same rights and obligations [as marriage] under the law." And many Ecuadorian progressives say that the church has been hijacked by the right wing in recent years and is now closely aligned with political parties run by the economic elite, namely the Social Christian Party.

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Daniel Denvir is an independent journalist in Quito, Ecuador, and a 2008 recipient of the North American Congress on Latin America's Samuel Chavkin Investigative Journalism Grant. He is the editor in chief of caterwaulquarterly.com.

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