While I was away something happened in France that I would like to share with readers of this blog even though I know some may be offended.
The socialists in charge since May 2012 have pushed forward a major reform in that now homosexual couples will have the right to marry and adopt in EQUALITY of conditions with heterosexual couples. Certainly this is a development that I may decide to take advantage myself if the "mariage pour tous" law passes. After a 13 years relationship we may wish to formalize it and let the S.O. get a French passport and more protection against a clearly homophobic regime here in Venezuela.
But this being a Venezuelan blog, I am not going to write much about that passionate debate in France, besides letting you know that the right wing is covering itself in shame, has lost many votes for many years, including mine (as a switch voter I did vote for Sarkozy last May, though I voted socialist for the following parliamentary elections; no more). You may just look across the Channel how at the same time the Tories had at least the good idea to split over the question.
The real reason I wanted to chime on this French debate is that I wanted to compare the quality of politics in France and of its minsters even if one may not agree with them. And yet cantankerous France is not usually seen as a paragon of civilized debate in parliamentary settings. The video below is the opening statement of Christiane Taubira, the "garde des sceaux" or French justice minister. I want to impress that this is a deeply knowledgeable woman, at least on this topic. That she is the one clearly wielding the power of the message, or if you prefer that she has been truly empowered by her party to defend the dossier. Now contrast this with the many woman inside chavismo who are mere errand girls at best and of dubious personal morality at worst. Cachifas I described them once. For the life of me I cannot imagine any of the chavista female ministers defending her dossier with the culture, education and intellectual integrity that Ms. Taubira did on January 29. Even if you do not understand French a couple of minutes of her speech without notes and yet with ruthless exactitude should make you get my point.
As in everything else chavismo has also failed the gay folks in Venezuela. Even the so vaunted universal AIDS care was decided by judges of the pre Chavez era, and at any rate has been financially floundering for a while, like all health care for that matter. In 1999 constitution gay rights could have been explicitly mentioned but they were not. Nor was abortion and other social concerns. Only appeared those that would maximize a YES vote on the constitution. Already then the pseudo revolutionary government was more concerned in promoting the power of Chavez than any actual true democratization of the country. The results were expected and were seen freshly yesterday in the National Assembly of Venezuela where this one was used for political attacks and repression rather than grand discussion as Ms. Taubira presided over a few days ago. France and Europe keep advancing in the path of civilization, Venezuela is retrograding fast to fascist barbarism.
Retrouvez l'intégralité de l'intervention de... por LCP
Daniel I am happy for you.
ReplyDeleteI always want good things to happen to people, especially for people I esteem.So congratulations dear Daniel.It is good that you have some protection for your future.
firepigette
It take a long time before they announce the liberty to choose your partner, the Dutch were the first.
ReplyDeleteSmall country but ..... mind
Congratulations to obtain also an everywhere accept European passport!
Well, it is not a done deal. First, the law is not enacted yet. there is a second discussion, senate discussion, etc... and the way the right is acting I am sure they will go the extra mile to stop it. And then there is the regulations on how it is applied and even if I manage to get married at the French embassy of Caracas, there is still quite a protocol until they will give a French passport tot he S.O. since this is not automatic anymore in France.
ReplyDeleteUsed to be a lot easier for a foreign speaking spouse to get the French nationality. A Mickey Mouse verbal exam in French and voila. In 2012, the government introduced an official verbal and written exam. Ouch!
ReplyDeleteCurrently in Southern Florida where I met quite a few Venezuelan expats. Very decent hard working people. Big loss for Venezuela, big gain for the USA.
Homophobia is so common in latin america that my wife and I have always said that if any of our kids (4 and 2 now) are gay we will surely move to Europe.
ReplyDeleteI am living right now in Mexico. You all know how Mexico has that macho fame. Even though machismo is still a big problem here, gays rights have slowly gain some inertia. People are still homophobic, but at least now they keep quiet.
In my office I have had this conversation many times. How gays should have the same rights as myself, and my workmates mostly agree. Everything changes when we talk about gays adopting. Almost all turn against me. Normally I do the following. I let the discussion cool down and after a couple of weeks I approach the guy/girl that was the most against it and say:
-So, you have kids right?
- Yes, you know I do.
- And you love them above all thing, right?
- Sure
- And no matter what they will do you will never stop loving them, right?
- Sure
- Ok, that's great. Now imagine your son/daughter turns 24 and he/she tells you that she is really in love and wants to get married, Will you agree?
- Oh sure
- he/she gets married but tells you that she/he cannot have babies and wants to adopt. Will you help them?
- Sure sure.
- That's great. Now imagine you daughter/son is gay.....
Believe me, their face expression is just priceless. It is just impossible for them to backtrack, I will just mean that they don really love their kids. It is so easy to hate and so hard to really love.
^^^^^^That, this knuckle dragger held for the longest time the ancient conservative views on this matter, but as I age, I just don't give a damn. As long as the couple are happy, safe and no closer than 1st cousins, what the hell difference does it make? So good luck Daniel.
ReplyDeleteDon't be messing with my firearms thos, that's still a red line. Srsly.
1st cousins? That's where you draw the line? cute.... But do not be alarmed, such couples cannot reproduce together, adopt at best or do some weird threesome.....
DeleteIt's a US Southern deal Daniel. :)
DeleteOur family trees tend to get entwined, I have a few 1st cousins on both sides of my family. :)
Sorry Daniel but regardless of how nice the Parlament lady sounds, the gay marriage debate in France has been SHAMEFUL. Tens or hundreds of thousands of people not afraid to show their biggotry in plein day and make some absurd statements.
ReplyDeleteCe n'est pas la meilleur heure de la France, my friend.
I would not be as negative as you are.
DeleteFrance has chosen the difficult way to do such things for, shall we say, cultural matters.
First, the nature of civilian marriage in France practically forced the government to tackle at the same time marriage AND adoption, something that other countries were able to avoid. Remember that in France only civilian marriage is recognized and that the civil code is built around that fact, complicating thus the matter. Though in other aspects it was a blessing since France does not care about religious marriage there is no need to force religion to accept marriage for all. At least debate is limited to adoption and marriage, without religious consideration like in the USA.
Second, France has a strong tradition of equality in front of the law that is pushed stronger than in many countries. A recent example was the heated debate forbidding any religious symbol in public schools. The issue was forbidding the veil for Muslim girls and forcing them to go to gym class like any other girls. Thus the government went as far as forbidding wearing a crucifix or the kippah for boys.
Finally, this is just the way we do things in France, we let it all out. Catharsis for all if you wish. If you think this debate is ugly go back in time and see the one over abortion in the 70ies. Then it was presented by the right though also lead by a woman. At the time she may have become the most hated woman in France but Simons Weil but her performance was recorded as brilliant, the law passed and she is now an iconic figure of France. It is just our way to do this, since the French revolutions, from enfranchising Jews to enfranchising gays. The debate is rough but it allows the country to go all the way through, reaching more far reaching positions than other. I am OK with that.
As a conservative I don't see this issue will address more pressing matters like the financial crisis, and the still unstable recovering of most western countries. If it were by me, this bill would have been approved long ago, one cause less for the liberals to defend, which would have rendered the liberal or socialist agenda with no substance, and time will tell if they are suitable for the role of policy makers, you know the kind of policies that create more jobs, create more business opportunities, revenues etc.
ReplyDeleteBesides, there is no need for the state nor the government to forbid marriage of the same sex, or to limit any right for that matter, that were enacted in the constitution.
As for you Daniel congratulations if you decide to go that road, it is more likely that France will got this bill enacted long before Venezuela decides to even discuss the possibility to recognize marriage of the same sex.
Well, this exactly the point, it should never be such a major deal. And it is also true that bolivarianos venezuela is shown once again to be a fake.
DeleteI had no idea you were gay. That's awesome +1 for you. My boyfriend is Venezuelan and I am an American. I want nothing more than to be able to bring my boyfriend here.
ReplyDeleteYou should have read the blog a little bit more often......
Delete:)
Congratulations Daniel.
ReplyDelete