Guatemalan Congress Shelves Bill Banning Same-Sex Marriages

The Guatemalan Congress voted Tuesday to shelve the “Life and Family Protection Law.” 

The bill would have amended the country’s Civil Code to “expressly” ban same-sex marriages.

According to Agencia Presentes, a news website covering LGBTQ news in Latin America, Congress voted 119-19 to table the controversial bill.

#Guatemala 🇬🇹 Momentos cuando el decreto 18-2022 fue archivado con 119 votos a favor de esta acción, 19 votos en contra y 26 votos ausentes. Así celebra las mujeres y la diversidad 🎊 con una resistencia de varios días en las calles. @redmmutrans @InfoOTRANS @ObservatorioLam pic.twitter.com/DW2iruXuev

— Agencia Presentes (@PresentesLatam) March 15, 2022

President Threatens Veto

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei had called on Congress to shelve the bill and threatened to veto the law because he believed it would violate Guatemala’s Constitution. 

In a televised address he said, “If that law reaches my office, it will be vetoed, therefore, I recommend to the Congress of the Republic, with all due respect, that it please archive the decree.” 

The bill was initially passed by the Guatemalan Congress, on March 8, by 101 to eight votes. 

The law also sentenced women to a minimum of five years in prison for seeking an abortion and bans the teaching of sexual diversity in schools which it defines as “promoting in children and teenagers policies or programs that tend to lead to diversion from their sexual identities at birth.”