In the meantime, in recent months the Guatemalan Congress has been debating a bill known as "Iniciativa 5272," or "Law for the Protection of Life and the Family" ("Ley para la Protección de la Vida y la Familia"). The bill has been put forward by a group of deputies who define themselves as "pro-life". If it's approved, it would stiffen sentences for abortion (up to ten years in prison for women who abort), prohibit sex education in the schools and reiterate the ban on same-sex marriages (as contrary to ‘moral values and biological nature'). The bill has already made it through two rounds of voting in the Central American country's congress and has only one more to go. Last Sunday, many Guatemalans took to the streets to support this new bill, exhibiting their slogan, "Guate for Life and the Family". However, yesterday, September 4th, the feminist and LGBT organizations, with thousands of their own supporters, replied with their own protest against this bill.
"If Guatemala's Congress approves the bill, it would convey the message that women and LGBT individuals are second-class citizens," declared José Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division.
"Here, having a relationship is an impossible dream," complained a number of young homosexuals interviewed by Li Cheng and George F. Roberson while they were writing the film.
"At Giornate," declared Giorgio Gosetti, GdA director, "we believe that this is just where films can step in. When freedom of choice and self-expression in full autonomy are challenged, we can use films to say that truth and love are to be found elsewhere. José is an important film at such as delicate time for the Guatemala it describes; it's a story that needs to be told, so that anyone can fall in love, safe from prejudice, just like any other love story you might see on screen."
The director and the cast will be on hand for the screening at 11:30 a.m. in the Sala Perla.
