Gay rights organization “Colombia Diversa” slammed Senator Roberto Gerlein for calling gay sex “dirty, repulsive…excremental and [deserving of] condemnation”.
The senator’s comments were “prejudiced, discriminatory…and lead to delegitimizing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population,” according to Marcela Sanchez, director of Colombia Diversa. The group is one of the leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy organizations in Colombia.
“I believe some people are going to make criminal complaints [against Gerlein] in accordance with anti-discrimination law and also administrative complaints before the prosecution,” Sanchez told Colombia Reports.
The latest quarrel comes in the midst of a heated debate in Colombia about gay marriage and civil unions. A gay marriage bill proposed in October will be up for discussion in congress later in November.
“In this country, homosexuals already have economic rights and social security therefore it is time to move toward matrimony,” said the author of the proposed bill, Senator Armando Benedetti.
“It must be a legal debate, a constitutional debate, in which the social and cultural reality of homosexuals in Colombia is recognized,” agreed Sanchez.