Deterioration of Equal Rights for the LGBTQAI+ Community After 2017
After 2017, the climate for LGBTQAI+ rights in Venezuela notably worsened, marked by both a tightening of authoritarian controls and the rise of ultraconservative social policies. Although certain legal protections already existed—such as the legality of same-sex sexual activity—actual enforcement and social acceptance of these rights diminished significantly. Legislative progress towards greater equality stalled completely; efforts to introduce same-sex marriage, civil unions, or gender identity recognition remained either unaddressed or indefinitely postponed. There is still no legal recognition for same-sex couples, and both marriage and de facto unions remain constitutionally defined as exclusively between a man and a woman.
For transgender individuals, the situation is especially dire, as legal gender recognition is not permitted, thereby excluding them from identity documents aligned with their gender and impeding access to essential government-controlled services and resources. The ongoing economic crisis, combined with the collapse of social services, has further marginalized LGBTQAI+ individuals, many of whom cannot access government benefits or food distribution systems due to their inability to register marital or gender status consistent with their identities. Any existing anti-discrimination laws pertaining to sexual orientation are rarely enforced, and those addressing gender identity are effectively non-existent.
Beginning in 2023, hostile actions by government officials and security forces increased sharply, including police raids of LGBTQ gathering spaces, arbitrary detentions, and the public dissemination of patrons’ personal information. Prominent LGBTQAI+ rights defenders and activists have faced illegal searches, arrests, and the arbitrary revocation of travel documents, making organizing, advocacy, or seeking asylum more dangerous. Simultaneously, the National Assembly enacted new restrictions on non-governmental organizations, curbing the operating scope of groups defending human rights and further exposing LGBTQAI+ people to unchecked abuse by authorities.
Conservative religious and political forces have grown in influence, shaping both institutional policy and public discourse. Hate speech and open hostility against LGBTQAI+ communities have become mainstream at the highest government levels, as evidenced by senior officials referring to transgender people in derogatory terms and supporting systematic attacks on LGBTQ activists. Educational content regarding gender and sexuality has been targeted for removal from school curricula under the influence of ultraconservative religious groups, contributing to a regressive social climate and depriving younger generations of comprehensive sexuality education.
General Decline of Equal Rights in Venezuela After 2017
The general state of equal rights for all Venezuelans, including the LGBTQAI+ community, has sharply declined since 2017 due to increasing authoritarianism, economic collapse, and the criminalization of dissent. Political rights and civil liberties have eroded amid a widespread crackdown on the opposition, dissolution of democratic institutions, and severe restrictions on freedom of assembly, speech, and the press. The judiciary has lost its independence, functioning primarily as an instrument of political repression while regularly ignoring due process and detaining perceived regime opponents arbitrarily.
Marginalized groups—such as the LGBTQAI+ community, women, indigenous people, and dissidents—are disproportionately impacted by this authoritarian turn, enduring both institutional and social discrimination. Legal protections for these populations are weak or unenforced. The 2017 Law Against Hatred and similar legal frameworks heighten the risk of prosecution for peaceful expression and advocacy, further stifling any efforts to secure basic rights. NGOs and civil society organizations, crucial for vulnerable populations, face continuous harassment, arbitrary sanctions, and the threat of dissolution.
Economic mismanagement and hyperinflation have gravely exacerbated the humanitarian emergency, resulting in critical shortages of food, medicine, and basic goods—a crisis that disproportionately affects those already on the social and legal margins. As the social fabric unravels, discrimination and violence against minority communities—including the LGBTQAI+ population—proliferate without the prospect of meaningful redress.
Influence of Trumpism and Extreme Right Political Views in Venezuela
The direct legislative or policy impact of Trumpism—defined by right-wing populism, authoritarianism, and strong anti-LGBTQ tendencies—within Venezuela's own borders is relatively limited; the Maduro regime and much of the state apparatus remain aligned with leftist, rather than right-wing, ideological traditions. However, the influence of extreme right political views manifests in two key ways: first, through the rising power of ultraconservative religious movements inside Venezuela, and second, via the broader international and oppositional environment.
Domestically, the Venezuelan government, particularly under Maduro, has forged alliances with ultraconservative evangelical and Catholic movements that stridently oppose LGBTQAI+ rights, gender equality, and secular sexual education. These groups have become more powerful in shaping policy, public debate, and legislative processes, leading to greater institutionalization of homophobic and transphobic rhetoric and undermining the possibility of progressive reform. The social and legislative climate under their influence increasingly echoes typical far-right positions—emphasizing "traditional family values," resisting comprehensive sexual education, and systematically blocking anti-discrimination statutes.
Internationally, Trumpism and the politics of the global far-right have contributed to sharp polarization and confrontation in Venezuela. While there is no organized, Trumpist political party in Venezuela, segments of the opposition—sometimes called “MAGAzuelans”—espouse extreme anti-communist, anti-socialist, and conspiratorial narratives modeled on or aligned with Trump-era U.S. rhetoric. In this sense, extreme-right discourse intensifies domestic division and delegitimizes pro-LGBTQAI+ or human rights-based initiatives by conflating them with foreign "gender ideology" or other perceived threats. President Maduro, for his part, routinely accuses opposition politicians of participating in global far-right conspiracies, further poisoning political discourse and justifying repression through the rhetoric of anti-fascist defense.
While U.S. sanctions and Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy increased economic pain and international isolation for the Maduro regime, these tactics have had a largely indirect and sometimes inadvertent negative effect on human rights conditions and equal rights through the aggravation of Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis, rather than through positive influence in support of democracy or minority protections. Rhetoric and policy approaches rooted in Trumpism have also encouraged anti-immigrant, anti-refugee sentiment in the United States and Latin America, often targeting Venezuelans abroad and further complicating social integration and respect for rights.
The Intersecting Effects of Right-Wing and Authoritarian Repression
Although far-right ideology nourishes a climate hostile to LGBTQAI+ equality in Venezuela, the more immediate and decisive threat to equal rights—both for LGBTQAI+ people and the general population—remains the Maduro government’s leftist authoritarianism, systemic repression, and alliance with ultraconservative social forces. Both right and left populist strategies in Venezuela manipulate fear and division, undermining pluralism, democratic checks and balances, and the ability to advocate for social justice. In summary, since 2017, Venezuela has experienced a marked regression in equal rights due to a convergence of repressive political power, the strengthening of socially conservative religious movements, and external and domestic polarization inspired in part by global far-right trends, with the brunt of the impact borne by the LGBTQAI+ community and other vulnerable groups.
