San Juan, Puerto Rico ? Battles regarding the homosexual lifestyle continue to rage in Puerto Rico following an enormous march in San Juan where hundreds of thousands marched against a proposition to legalize homosexual marriage.
?Traffic was snarled for miles leading toward the San Juan islet as buses packed with marchers headed toward the north side of the Capitol,? reports state of the march, which took place late last month.
The event was organized by the organization Puerto Rico for the Family, and was assembled in just three weeks. An estimated 200,000 residents took to the streets with banners and signs to show their support for Biblical marriage. Gospel music was said to have filled the air.
?[The march]?is an act to defend our rights and protect children,? said Dr. Cesar Vasquez Muniz of United Ministry for the Family, who said that the event was organized ?in response to threats against marriage and the family.?
In addition to a bill that seeks to legalize same-sex ?marriage? in the Commonwealth, lawmakers have proposed an amendment the Domestic Violence Act that would provide protection to homosexuals under the law.
?It is a measure of justice and a desire that all citizens have equal access to protection from assault, intimidation, or potential domestic violence in their relationships,? stated Senator Luis Vega Ramos.
However, some residents believe that such laws could wrongfully be used against Christians and other religious groups in order to criminalize their beliefs about the homosexual lifestyle.
?We are concerned that laws will be created to discriminate against the church,? explained Pastor Cesar Vazquez Mu?iz, a spokesman of Puerto Rico for the Family. ?We are concerned that public education will be used to change our children, presenting them with behaviors their parents don?t think are correct.?
A third bill seeks to create an anti-discrimination law that would prohibit the refusal of employment and housing based on one?s sexuality.
?We chose [these politicians] to do other things ? to improve the economy, to reduce crime, to help health and education ? but not to change something as fundamental as marriage, [which] is between a man and a woman, and the family that is born of that relationship,? Vasquez declared during a speech at the march. ?Politicians count the numbers, and the numbers are here.?
Following the march, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court voted to bar homosexual adoption in the Commonwealth. The case involved a woman who sought to adopt her lesbian partner?s 12-year-old child, who was conceived via in vitro fertilization.
?The state ? has not criminalized their sentimental relationship, but it does not have a constitutional obligation to award this relationship the same rights that other relationships have when it comes to adoption procedures,? wrote the court in a 5-4 decision.
However, Puerto Rican Governor?Alejandro Garc?a Padilla rebuked the court last week and said that one?s sexuality should not determine their ability to adopt.
The Democratic-led House and Senate also state that they will push their proposed bills through the legislature anyway.
?We?re in a period where it?s important to talk about human rights,? asserted former governor Pedro Rosello, who was once an avowed conservative that banned homosexual ?marriage? abroad, but now expresses his support of same-sex relationships.
Organizers of the recent march say that the government?s efforts are nothing less than ?a legislative attack against our freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and of religion.?
Puerto Rico is heavily Catholic, with approximately 30 percent of the population identifying as Protestant.
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