Roughly 2 thousand people on Saturday
participated in a protest in San Jose, Costa Rica called Marcha de
los Invisibles (March of the Invisibles) which included calling
for greater equality for the nation's LGBT community.
Protesters marched through the capital
Saturday morning to the Legislative Assembly, where they demanded gay
rights, the establishment of a secular state, the approval of in
vitro fertilization and immigrant rights, the The
Tico Times reported.
One banner at the event read, “Morality
is personal, human rights are universal.”
Demonstrators called for the ouster of
Justo Orozco, the head of the Human Rights Commission, whose anti-gay
statements have angered local activists.
Orozco, also a protestant minister,
called homosexuality a “strange practice” and “a sin that has a
cure.”
“Unfortunately, I believe so, because
it is written in the Bible,” he said of “curing” gay people.
“I have anecdotal proof. … I met one who was that way and who got
straightened out.”
One marcher said: “We are here so
that they know that we exist, that we deserve the same rights. In
the country, there is a decline in human rights.”
An online petition calling for Orozco's
removal has attracted nearly 15,000 electronic signatures.