Claudia López Married: Bogota's First Lesbian Mayor-elect Marries Partner

Claudia Lopez made history when she won last October’s mayoral election becoming the first woman mayor of Bogota, Columbia’s capital. But she recently made history once more by marrying her same-sex partner Angélica Lozano, becoming the first openly lesbian politician to do so.

Claudia López and Angélica Lozano married in a private civil ceremony, The Guardian reported. Lopez announced the happy occasion by posting several photos on her social media account.

“On my way to the happiest moment of my life!” the incoming mayor of Bogota posted on Twitter. Lopez will be taking office by January next year.

“Thank you to life for this marvelous year,” she wrote in another Twitter post. “I graduated with my doctorate, [became] mayor, and married the love of my life!”

Meanwhile, Lozano revealed how difficult it was to get both their schedules just right for the happy event. But both she and her politician partner realized that it’s probably best to do it before Lopez begins office because she’ll be very busy by then.

“We told ourselves, ‘We have to do it now or another four years will pass by,’” Lozano told Colombia’s BLU Radio. “Because Claudia’s priority the next four years will be her job.”

Lopez has always been upfront about her sexuality even before she entered politics. Thus, it did not surprise supporters to see her kissing Lozano passionately when the election result came out and she emerged the victor.

While Colombia is a conservative, Catholic country, it permitted gay marriage since 2016. Adoption is also already legal in the country but Lopez and Lozano, who are both advocates of the LGBTQ community, admit that there is much to be done.

“Colombia is a country that has advanced in many things,” Lopez, is a former journalist, commented after she won in October. “But still it’s got a lot of machismo, it’s a very conservative country.”

Another problem she needs to address is the killing of members of the LGBTQ community in Colombia. According to CNN, 100 members of the community were killed in 2017 despite falling overall crime rates in the country.

“Despite advances made in recognizing (LGBT) rights, the peace process, and the general decrease in homicides in the country, violence against LGBT people does not show a similar reduction,” rights group Colombia Diversa said in a report.