Final results of last month's election
in Guatemala were released on Friday.
Among the 160 deputies elected on June
16 was Aldo Iván Dávila
Morales, who is openly gay and living with HIV.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal of
Guatemala announced its results on Friday, the AP reported.
Dávila,
who will represent a Guatemala City district, will take his seat in
Guatemala's congress in January.
“I'm happy, with a lot of mixed
feelings,” the 41-year-old Dávila told the AP last month. “The
worry is I'm putting myself in a snake pit. But at the same time, I'm
no slouch, and I'm ready and able to fight when it needs to be done.”
But Gabriela Tuch, a lawyer focusing on
the LGBT community, said that Dávila's win was not necessarily the
LGBT victory that it appears to be.
“It's not that society has said, 'A
gay man, affirmative action, let's vote for him,'” Tuch told the
AP. “He was favored by the votes and the position he was in. Now
the challenge begins.”
Dávila, who has been partnered for 19
years, did not emphasize his sexuality during the campaign and only
the name of his party, not Dávila's name, appeared on the ballot.
He said homophobia remains rampant in
Guatemala and that he worries his colleagues will not want to sit
next to him.