Puerto Rico’s Governor Signs New Civil Code Removing LGBT+ Discrimination Protections

Puerto Rico’s Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced signed a new civil code removing explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBT+ citizens.

LGBT+ activists are still reviewing the 600-page document, where changes were approved in “less than 10 minutes” by the Senate and House of Representatives without any debate, and remained mostly unavailable for citizens to review before Vázquez signing them.

“They removed the discrimination bans in order not to include sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Pedro Julio Serrano, founder of national LGBTQ rights organisation Puerto Rico Para Tod@s.

Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David stated that “Puerto Rico’s governor signed into law significant revisions to the island’s civil codes that shamefully ignore the urgent calls of local advocates to explicitly include vital, comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ residents.

“The government has failed to carry out its primary duty of ensuring the safety and well-being of all Puerto Ricans, including LGBTQ Puerto Ricans.

“This year, there has been an alarming uptick in killings of LGBTQ people on the island,” added David. “The government should be doubling down on passing legal protections for the LGBTQ community and sending a clear message that LGBTQ people’s lives are worthy of equal dignity and respect.”

In her statement after signing the bill, Vázquez didn’t mention the LGBT+ community but mentioned George Floyd, the 46-year-old Minneapolis resident whose death in police custody has caused worldwide protests against ani-Black police brutality.

“Abuse, mistreatment, discrimination nor the violation of human rights in any way is neither acceptable nor permitted,” Vázquez said in her statement. “We all have a civic duty to respect that is fundamental in a peaceful society.”

As ‘LGBTQ Nation’ reports, it is still unclear if other changes, such as a mark outing trans people on their ID and a denial of government funding for same-sex couples seeking child surrogacy, were included in the revised civil code.

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