Bogotá Atea will denounce a judge for Breach of Duty by refusing to wed a lesbian couple.

The NGO Bogotá Atea emphatically rejects the ruling by judge Ramiro Eliseo Flórez, from the Tenth Civil Court of Cartagena, in which he refused civil marriage to a couple of lesbian citizens, by giving preference to his personal and subjective convictions above the norms of a State constituted in a social and democratic rule of law which is also by definition a secular State.

After studying the ruling of August 31 by Judge Florez we see the following aspects as being reason for concern:

1.  There has been a complete denial, on part of Judge Ramiro Floréz, to recognize previous sentences of the Constitutional Court that have expressly ruled in favor  of the right of equality, freedom of personal development and religious freedom in a secular State consecrated by the Constitution of 1991. Such Failure to Act allegedly constitutes a Breach of Duty, that is to say, that Judge Floréz made a ruling knowing that it was contrary to the law.

2. Judge Ramiro Flórez has placed his personal beliefs above his duty as a magistrate. The rule of all rules for Colombians is the Constitution of 1991. The bible and its many interpretations are for those citizens that wish to adopt them, and this does not imply that what is considered to be sacred scriptures by some should be imposed in order to deal out justice.

3. It is incorrect that the invocation of God mentioned in the Preface to the Constitution gives free reign to issue a ruling in accordance with the Bible. The Constitution of 1991 doesn’t establish an official religion, meaning that the invocation of a God could be whatever God that a Colombian decides to recognize: Jesus, Jehovah, Krishna, Olodumare, Monesvol or nature itself.

4. Because of the above, Bogotá Atea denounces the Magistrate, Judge Ramiro Eliseo Flórez, for suspected Breach of Duty before the Consejo Superior de la Judicatura (Superior Judiciary Council in translation)

Finally, we would like to remind people that when a judge imparts justice they do it in the name of the Republic of Colombia, independently of the religious beliefs they may hold. Civil servants should uphold the principals of a strict separation between State and Churches which is characteristic of secular States.

Translated by Edward Duigenan

Original post: https://bogota.ateos.co/2020/09/bogota-atea-denunciara-a-juez-que-nego-matrimonio-de-lesbianas-por-presunto-prevaricato-comunicado-de-prensa/

Contact Bogotá Atea:

Ferney Rodríguez Vargas – Mobile: 321 457 1038

Andrés López Gallego – Mobile: 322 536 67 56

Twitter @BogotaAtea