NOM BLOG

Category Archives: South America

Columbian Senate Overwhelmingly Rejects Marriage Re-Definition

LifeSiteNews reports:

The Senate of Columbia voted down a bill to create homosexual "marriage" yesterday by an overwhelming majority of 51-17, with 32 senators either not present or abstaining.

The defeat of the bill means that it will not pass to the lower Chamber of Deputies, and is effectively dead.

With the failure of this bill to pass the Senate, the article explains, now a civil union-type institution will take effect on July 20 in accordance with a court ruling. The unions will be called “solemn contractual bond[s]” and “will not include the right to adopt children.”

Photo: Paris Pro-Marriage Rally Featured on Front Page of Sao Paulo, Brazil Newspaper

Brazil has noticed what happened in France! When will the United States media catch up?

Uruguay Senate Postpones Vote on Gay Marriage in Face of Renewed Resistance

Gay marriage is always inevitable -- until it isn't:

Uruguay's Senate has delayed until April a vote on a bill that would legalise gay marriage, amid calls for further analysis of the proposal.

The Marriage Equality Law, approved on 11 December by the lower house, was backed by the governing coalition.

But faced with demands for more discussion, senators opted to postpone the vote until after the summer recess.

If passed, the law would make Uruguay the second Latin American nation after Argentina to allow gay marriage.

... "out of respect for the parliamentary minorities", the draft law would be sent for discussion by a commission, the statement said.

The move highlights the controversy the proposed law has generated among some sectors of society in Uruguay. -- BBC

Uruguay Bishop: "Children Have a Right to be Raised by a Father and Mother, by Birth or Adoption"

ABC News:

Uruguay's congress is considering a gay marriage law that would give same-sex couples all the same rights and responsibilities of heterosexual married couples.

The country already has a civil unions law and has stood out in Latin America lately for legalizing abortion and planning to sell government-grown marijuana to any citizen who wants it.

The proposed "marriage equality" law would change Uruguay's nearly-century-old civil code and give married gays and lesbians all the rights and responsibilities of heterosexual married couples, including the possibility of adopting children.

... Uruguay's Roman Catholic Church is opposed.

Bishop Jaime Fuentes, who presides over family issues for the church's governing episcopal conference, told the AP Wednesday that "marriage equality" is a discriminatory misnomer.

"It seems logical that two people of the same sex who care for each other and want to share their lives together can have some sort of civil acknowledgement, but it can't be the same as what governs marriage," Fuentes said. "Giving this kind of union the same obligations and rights as marriage would represent serious discrimination against a married man and woman."

The bishop argued that "children have a right to be raised by a father and mother, by birth or adoption."

Three-Way Marriage Ignites Uproar in Brazil

Fox News Latino:

These days in Brazil two women are simultaneously walking down the aisle to marry the same man.

The BBC is reporting that a union between three people, two women and a man, in Sao Paulo is causing major outrage.

The publication says that public notary Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, based in the city of Tupa, feels the couple is  entitled to the same family rights that traditional couples have. She added that currently there is no law that averts the union between the threesome.

Still, religious groups are irate over the three-way marriage and Brazilian attorney Regina Beatriz Tavares da Silva told the BBC that the union is “absurd and totally illegal.”

First Civil Union Between Three Partners in Brazil Sparks Outrage

Gay activists say it is absurd to argue that redefining marriage to be genderless opens the door to legal polygamous unions. Now it has happened. So what do they say?

Controversy has been sparked as the first civil union between three separate partners was registered in Tupã, in the Northwestern region of Sao Paulo state, Brazil last week. The three-person union has shocked religious groups in the country, and sparked further concerns that the traditional family unit is being further eroded by the current day society.

The actual declaration of the union between the man and two women was in fact made three months ago, but it finally became public this week.

Notary officer, Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, has explained that the three partners lived together and wanted to publicly declare their status in order to guarantee their rights. Checks were conducted to see if there was any legal impediment to the unions and the notary office has confirmed that none were found.

Attorney Nathaniel Batista dos Santos Junior oversaw the legal process of creating the three-way declaration. -- Global Christian Post

Brazilian Psychology Association Seeks to Revoke Christian Therapist’s License

LifeSiteNews:

Brazilian psychologists are seeking to revoke the license of a therapist for publicly affirming her Christian beliefs on her online blog and twitter accounts, an action that the organization claims violates its code of ethics.

Marisa Lobo, a psychologist and Evangelical who has published several popular works on psychological issues, sends Twitter messages to her thousands of followers under the title “Christian Psychology,” and maintains a website with the same name.

The Federal Council of Psychology (CFP), which has the power to regulate the activities of psychologists in Brazil, informed Lobo in February through its affiliate in the state of Paraná that she had 15 days to remove any indication of an association between her psychology practice and her religious beliefs from her website, or risk losing her license to practice.

Lobo’s posts and tweets often conflict with the sexually libertine and left-wing ideology espoused by the CFP, including denunciations of homosexual adoption, and support for sexual orientation change therapy. She claims that the process against her was spurred by complaints from homosexuals, especially regarding her opposition to the “gay kit,” a set of highly explicit materials which was to be distributed to children in public schools in 2011 as an “anti-homophobia measure.” However, the program was suspended due to public outrage.

Gay Activist Allegedly Sues Colombian Bishop for Defending Marriage

Catholic News Agency:

Bishop Juan Vicente Cordoba, secretary for the Colombian bishops' conference, has allegedly been sued by columnist and gay activist Felipe Zuleta over his support of marriage as between one man and one woman.

“For now this is all media hype, and very few media outlets have reported on this,” said Father Elver Rojas, spokesman for the bishops' conference, telling CNA that they have yet to receive any official notice of a lawsuit.

Colombian radio reported on May 29 that Zuleta said he is suing Bishop Cordoba for violating the country’s anti-discrimination laws. He argues the bishop’s statements were criminal in nature and punishable by up to twelve years in prison.

He also said local soccer coach Alvaro Gonzalez has also been sued for supposed discrimination against homosexuals.

“We want to see one of these two go to prison so that the country understands that intolerant speech is not acceptable,” he said.

The lawsuit comes one month after Bishop Cordoba called on Colombia’s Constitutional Court to respect the constitution and the concept of the traditional family which it enshrines.

Culture Wars Go International: Pushback on Obama's Use of U.S. Power on Social Issues

Wendy Wright for C-FAM:

The citizens of several countries are pushing back against President Obama’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender foreign policy imperative. Leaders in El Salvador launched a website on “Obama’s Corrupting Foreign Policy” and are asking the U.S. Senate to reject Obama's nominee for ambassador to their country.

President Obama announced in December that the promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) behavior is a top foreign policy priority, even for the U.S. military overseas. At the same time, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a high-profile speech at the UN equating LGBT status with religion. The State Department told oambassadors worldwide to recognize “gay pride month," and it released alist of “accomplishments” including the fact that a U.S. ambassador had published an OpEd promoting the LGBT agenda on behalf of the United States .

... In Pakistan, the US embassy hosted an LGBT “pride celebration” in June which provoked protests in several cities. A leader of one of the rallies said, “America has unleashed a storm of immoral values" and "we’ll resist at all costs.” The U.S. ambassador to Serbia promoted a homosexual rights march in that country last October which led to riots with an explicitly anti-Western tone.

Chile’s Constitutional Court Rejects Gay Marriage in 9-1 Vote

The Santiago Times:

Chile’s Constitutional Tribunal will officially release their verdict next week rejecting as “inapplicable” arguments for the legalization of same-sex marriage, according to an early report by El Mercurio on Friday.

The year-old case sought to challenge the decision of a Civil Registry official who refused to grant a marriage license to a same-sex couple. The 9-1 vote involved four divergent opinions from the tribunal’s judges, some of which left the door open to future legalization.

National Gathering of Argentinean Law Professors Reject SSM as Unconstitutional

LifeSiteNews:

Law professors attending Argentina’s most important conference on civil law have voted to declare that the nation’s recently-passed homosexual “marriage” legislation is unconstitutional.

The legal scholars also recommended the prohibition of homosexual adoption, and condemned the legal concept of multiple mothers or fathers of the same child as incompatible with the nation’s civil code.

... The Symposium, which is the largest of its kind for civil attorneys in Argentina, reported its highest attendance to date this year, with over 2,200 participating, including professors of law, practicing attorneys, and law students. Only law professors have the right to vote.

15,000 Catholics & Protestants Rally in Defense of Family in Chile

LifeSiteNews:

Despite an attack on its Facebook page and a cold rain, an estimated 15,000 people showed up for Chile’s first “March for Values” on July 30 in the capital of Santiago, expressing their support for the institution of the family in the face of a [gay] campaign to create civil unions and homosexual “marriage” in the country.

Marchers included a mix of Catholics and Protestants, cooperating in an “exemplary” way according to organizer Salvador Salazar.

Majority of Brazilians Oppose Ruling Legalizing Same-Sex Civil Unions

In LifeSiteNews:

A majority of Brazilians continue to express their opposition to the homosexual agenda in their country, despite a recent ruling by the nation’s Supreme Federal Tribunal creating homosexual civil unions, according to a recent poll.

The survey, conducted by the Brazilian polling agency Ibope, revealed that 55 percent of respondents opposed the Tribunal’s decision, and 45% favored it.

Sao Paulo OKs Pride Day—for Heterosexuals

Weird news, via the AP:

The city council of South America's biggest city has adopted legislation calling for a Heterosexual Pride Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday of each December.

... The legislation's author, Carlos Apolinario, said the idea for a Heterosexual Pride Day is "not anti-gay but a protest against the privileges the gay community enjoys."

As an example, he mentioned how Sao Paulo's huge gay pride day parade is held every year on Paulista Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in this city of 20 million people, while the March for Jesus organized by evangelical groups is not allowed on the same avenue.

Colombia's High Court Imposes Civil Unions, Denies Right to Marry

An update from LifeSiteNews:

Colombia’s Constitutional Court has issued a decision [late last week] declaring that homosexual couples constitute a “family,” but stopping short of giving them a right to “marry” each other.

In a decision issued yesterday evening, the Court decreed that the issue of “matrimony” between two people of the same sex is a matter for the National Congress to decide, and gave legislators two years to take up the issue.

... The jurists decreed that if the Congress does not pass legislation on the matter within that period,  “the next day, same-sex couples will be able to go to a notary and legalize their union.”

... Although the Constitution expressly states that marriage is a union of a man and a woman, the president of the Court denied the relevance of that clause in the Constitution, claiming that it “does not mean that couples of the same sex are excluded from doing the same.”