A long road to recognition
It took 15 years for the government to act on their petition to be recognized, but a group of gay rights organizations in Honduras said they would take what they can get. On August 27 three of the nation’s eight gay rights groups were granted legal status, a relatively mundane step that gives them the right to act before courts and government institutions. “We are part of a country with problems that also affect the gay community,” said Nelson Arambu, a spokesman for the groups. According to police statistics, at least 200 gays, lesbians, and transgendered people have been murdered in Honduras since 1998.
The conservative country’s religious leaders held a press conference to protest. News of the government measure was like “a bucket of cold water,” said Osvaldo Canales, president of the Evangelical Fraternity. “Homosexuals and lesbians live in sin,” he said, “and that should not be tolerated.”
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