CARACAS (AP) — Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice on Thursday repealed an article of the Organic Code of Military Justice that imposed prison sentences on members of the armed forces who committed “unnatural sexual acts” and was used to punish and remove homosexual servicemen from the military ranks.
The Constitutional Chamber, in response to the request filed by the mediator Alfredo Ruiz, indicated that it was annulling article 565 of the Code for “lack of sufficient legal clarity and precision regarding the behavior it intended to sanction”.
The rule, whose legality has been denounced by international organizations and rights activists in the LGTBIQ community, establishes that the officer who commits acts which “offend or diminish his dignity or who allows such acts, without seeking to prevent by means authorized by law, shall be punished by imprisonment for one to three years and separation from the armed forces.
The rule did not specify “what is meant by such acts”, while “the constitutional principles of taxation and criminal legality require that the description of the offenses be clear and precise, to avoid investigations, prosecutions and penalties other than those provided”. “penalize the legislator”, underlines the judgment.
Even if sexual acts against nature were understood to mean those which are not intended for reproduction, this interpretation, in the light of current scientific, social and legal conceptions, is not compatible with the Constitution or the international instruments validly signed and ratified by the Republic, above all, to be contrary to the fundamental postulate of progressiveness in terms of guaranteeing human rights,” the letter states. The Supreme Court, however, limited itself to the request for annulment, without issuing any other conclusion relating to the subject.
In this predominantly Catholic South American country, conservative on some issues and liberal on others, homophobia is rarely condemned and there is rarely a visible show of support for the LGTBIQ community.
After several small community protests in Caracas this year, their demands include the elimination of Article 565 of the Military Justice Code and the legalization of equal marriage.
Although Venezuela was one of the first countries in the world to establish civil marriage, in January 1873, amid frequent clashes between its rulers and the Catholic Church, the legalization of the union of two people of the same sex has been postponed for years.
Civil marriage in Venezuela is the only legally valid one.
The Venezuelan Civil Code establishes that marriage “can only be contracted between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman”, it does not “recognize another marriage contracted in Venezuela” and it is the only one that produces “legal effects, both in respect of persons and in respect of goods”. Consequently, it is established that after the celebration of the civil marriage, the contracting parties can conform to the rites of the religion which they profess.
The government-controlled Supreme Court has dozens of LGTBIQ-related cases pending for nearly two decades.
In the National Assembly, which has been under official scrutiny for 17 of the past 23 years, a Civil Code reform bill that would allow equal marriage, among other issues of legal protection or recognition of the LGTBIQ community.