The first marriage between same-sex couples is celebrated in Chile

Javier and Jaime, parents of two small children, became the first homosexual couple to marry on Thursday under Chile’s new equal marriage law that began to govern this day after decades of struggle by the LGBTIQ + community.

Javier Silva, an engineer, and Jaime Nazar, a dentist, have been a couple for seven years and live with their two little adopted children, Clemente and Lola María. For three years they were united by the Civil Union Agreement (AUC), until now the only legal bond that homosexual couples could opt for.

“Being the first to get married in Chile is an honor, a pride for us”, Javier said excitedly at a press conference at the offices of the Civil Registry of Providencia, a central neighborhood where a couple of men got married during the day and then a couple of women, Consuelo and Pabla.

“Now we can say that we are a family, that our children have the same conditions and will have, we hope, a better future, that they will not be discriminated against for having two parents who love each other”, added. “Thank you Jaime for choosing me” she said while holding her daughter Lola María in her arms.

The AUC, which until now united Javier and Jaime, was enacted in 2015 during the first government of then President Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018) and only regulates legal aspects of relationships between cohabitants of the same or different gender but does not establish filiation rights, which the new same-sex marriage law does include.

The guests at the ceremony were few due to the capacity and physical distance protocols imposed by the pandemic, although there was a lot of press and authorities.

“I can’t even believe I’m here”Jaime immediately pointed out. “We hope to be representing the entire community accordingly, we know that it is something very important for all of Chile, it is the beginning of a country that begins to work on equality from another point of view”.

The marriage was celebrated 90 days after the enactment of the Equal Marriage Law that took many years to be approved by the Chilean Congress and whose advance came after the center-right president Sebastián Piñera surprisingly announced in June 2021 his decision to expedite the project. Six months later it was approved and promulgated.

“Today we can talk about husband and husband, wife and wife”, said Rolando Jiménez, a historic leader of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, MOVILH, the largest group of the LGBTIQ+ community in the South American country.

Almost half a century has passed since a timid and small demonstration in April 1973 in which about twenty people from the LGBTIQ+ community protested in the center of the Chilean capital against police abuse.

In addition to these two marriages, another eight were celebrated on Thursday in cities in the north and south of the country.

Javiera Zúñiga, spokeswoman for MOVILH, indicated that Chile joined some thirty countries that allow marriage between same-sex couples throughout their territory. “Of the 194 States recognized by the United Nations, only 15.5% have equal marriage laws versus an alarming 84.5% that continue to deny full equality of rights for all couples and families only due to prejudice, ignorance, fundamentalism or homophobia”, he added.

“We dedicate… this law to each of the homoparental couples and families that were distanced, discriminated against, separated and violated in their most basic rights”, he concluded.