Venezuelan Consulate participates in Chicago's Gay Pride Parade

Supporting the rights of minorities

Chicago, July 7, 2009.- Last Sunday, June 28th representatives of the Consulate General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Chicago, in solidarity with groups that advocate fair treatment based in sexual orientation, marched with the Venezuelan flag in the Gay Pride Parade that is held every year in this important US city.

With the support of the activist organization "Gay Liberation Network" and marching with members of this organization that had shown some support for the Venezuelan process of democratic and socialist changes, the team of Venezuelan officers felt the happiness and solidarity of these groups that fight in the US to get recognition for their right to be married. The gay rights issue has been criticized by religious conservative groups that lobby very hard to block marriage rights for gays. At the Chicago Gay Pride Parade,.attended by well over 100,000, they even organized an anti-gay counterprotest at the end of the parade.
In spite of this small incident, the parade developed peacefully with a massive attendance that surpassed the organizers' expectations.

The Consul General, Jesus Rodriguez Espinoza, answered some questions of people that wondered why in Venezuela the changes in the gay rights issue proceeded so slowly. He explained that some changes were introduced in the Constitutional Reform that shamelessly did not pass the 2007 Referendum. "Right now in Venezuela some Gay organizations have been working hard in passing new legislation to address this important issue", said the Consul General.