A vote is expected shortly on a gay-partnership bill in Colombia’s Senate.
In the lead-up to the vote, several prominent politicians and conservative public figures, including former President Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala, published a full-page ad in the daily El Espectador newspaper denouncing the measure.
The ad said passage of the bill would increase the number of AIDS cases by condoning unnatural homosexual coupling and lead to the downfall of Colombian society, as homosexuality allegedly did in ancient Rome, according to the ad.
‘The ad was so preposterous … that the general reaction among the public … and journalists has been very supportive [of the bill],’ said Andres Duque, a gay and AIDS activist in New York who hails from Colombia and is assisting activists there.
‘I’ve tried to get supporting statements from Colombian stars such as Shakira, Juanes and Carlos Vives but their managers are telling them to stay mum,’ Duque said.