The Chilean Congress historically approved a bill that allows people of the same sex to marry, one of the great wishes of the country’s LGTBI community and an initiative that began to be reviewed more than four years ago.
The proposal was reviewed in the Lower House during the afternoon, where it was approved by 82 votes in favor, 20 against and 2 abstentions in a memorable session that ended with applause.
Hours before, he had obtained the approval of the Upper House, where he obtained the support of 21 senators, 8 voted against and 3 abstained.
Chile thus becomes the eighth country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage after Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica and several states of Mexico.
The law allows unions between people of the same sex to be called marriage and also enables adoption and filiation of children by both parents, one of the key points of the discussion.
The decision was celebrated by the country’s LGTBI organizations, which have been urging parliamentary proceedings for weeks and which this afternoon called a celebration in the central Plaza Italia in Santiago.
“This is a historic step. At last we end with structural inequalities and dignify people of sexual and gender diversity, ”Ramón Gómez, in charge of Human Rights of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh), told EFE.
The equal marriage project was presented in 2017 thanks to the impulse of the former socialist president Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018) and was stagnant for almost four years.
Last July, in a surprising twist, the current president, the right-wing Sebastián Piñera, said the time had come to approve the initiative and instructed Parliament to urgently debate it.
The announcement fell like a jug of cold water among the most conservative sectors of the right, who last week voted against it and prolonged the discussion for another seven days.
Until now and since 2015, homosexual people only had the legal figure of the Civil Union Agreement (AUC), which does not recognize filiative rights.
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