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News > Latin America

Mexican Lawmaker from Leftist Party Faces Expulsion for Homophobia

  • Candelaria Perez takes questions from the press ahead of a legislative session, Tabasco, Mexico, Jan. 11, 2016.

    Candelaria Perez takes questions from the press ahead of a legislative session, Tabasco, Mexico, Jan. 11, 2016. | Photo: Twitter / @FraccionMorena

Published 19 February 2016
Opinion

Candelaria Perez said she wished “gays did not exist” when asked about same-sex marriage legislation.

A local lawmaker for the Morena party in the Mexican state of Tabasco, is facing expulsion from her party after making homophobic remarks in response to a proposal for same-sex marriage legislation.

“Truth is, I would prefer it if gays did not exist,” said Candelaria Perez Jimenez, who serves as the coordinator of the bloc of lawmakers for the Morena party in Tabasco.

The unicameral congress of the state is considering legislation to implement same-sex marriage after the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in June 2015 that restricting marriage to heterosexual couples was unconstitutional.

Perez attempted to qualify her position, saying she would not vote for the legislation due to her personal convictions, but added that she would not actively oppose the bill either on the grounds that human rights “will always be respected.”

The secretary for sexual diversity from her party's executive committee is calling for Perez to be expelled from the party “for promoting discrimination” against homosexual people. 

INTERVEIW: President of Mexico's New Left-wing Morena Party

"The lawmaker's statements do not represent the position of the party. We are calling for her expulsion as a member for promoting discrimination and homophobia," Marco Antonio Temistocles Villanueva Ramos told a local online news outlet.

Villanueva added that the party's internal committees will consider sanctions against Perez including the possibility of expulsion from the party.

Perez was not directly elected to her post in Tabasco; she was selected to fill one of two seats allocated to the Morena party through proportional representation and was choosen as the result of a lottery held by the party.

Founded and led by two-time presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Morena is a relatively new actor on the Mexican political scene and bills itself as more principled leftist party in contrast to its rival, the Party of the Democratic Revolution.

The defense of sexual diversity rights is codified in the party's internal statues and it is the only party in Mexico that has a secretary for sexual diversity at the national level.

Sergio Rene Cancino Barfusson, representing Morena, is an openly gay federal lawmaker.

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