Jose “Pepe” Mujica, the former
president of Uruguay, said this week that recognizing the marriages
of gay and lesbian couples is simply accepting “reality.”
Uruguayan lawmakers in 2013, while
Mujica was in office, approved a number of liberal policies,
including laws legalizing same-sex marriage, abortion rights and
marijuana.
Following a meeting with the president
of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, Mujica held a press conference,
where he was asked how the marriage reform was going in his country.
He answered that Uruguay is only
“recognizing the reality” and does not like to discriminate
against anyone.
“It seems we are discovering a modern
phenomenon, but the reality is that it is as old as the hills,” he
said, using the Uruguayan proverb “mas viejo que el agujero del
mate.”
“We have decided to accept the
existence of reality,” he
added.