Chavez mostly ignored homophobia in Venezuela, and even within the PSUV. I don’t think he was a homophobe, but he didn’t do much to prevent homophobia from happening. At least Maduro seems better in that regard, even if Maduro has ties to Christian groups, he also seems to have improved the lives of LGBTQ+ people, and even openly supported same-sex marriage.

Nicolás Maduro assures in Salvados that the issue of equal marriage “has not been debated yet” although he assures that he believes “that everybody can get married whether homosexual or heterosexual” and has committed with Jordi Évole to take the issue of same-sex marriage to the Constituent Assembly. On the decriminalization of abortion he did not want to pronounce himself as it is “a delicate issue”.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday asked the country’s National Assembly to discuss same-sex marriage during its next term beginning in January, citing Pope Francis’ comments this week supporting civil unions for same-sex couples.

The Pope’s comments were the clearest language yet he has used on the rights of gay people. Gay marriage is not currently legal in heavily Roman Catholic Venezuela, despite laws or court decisions in other South American countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Colombia legalizing same-sex marriage. “I have friends and acquaintances who are very happy with what the Pope said yesterday,” Maduro said at an event with leaders of his ruling Socialist Party