Chile: Parliament approves bill to legalize same-sex marriage

Its parliament Chile today legalized same-sex marriage, ratifying a bill that was tabled in 2017 and for which the gay community of the country has been fighting for many years.

Following the ratification of the bill by the Senate, where the vote had been postponed several times until today, the House approved it immediately, with 82 votes in favor, 20 against and two abstentions.

The law, which will now have to be signed by President Sebastian Pinera, allowsgay couples getting married and adopt children.

«I’m very excited. I find it difficult to keep my composure. “It was a multi-kilometer road race,” said Isabel Amor, director of the Equality Foundation, who was present during the vote in parliament.

“Chile has taken a historic and decisive step”

“By approving marriage for all, Chile has taken a historic and decisive step in promoting and consolidating the human rights of same-sex couples and their families, which have been indiscriminately violated since the founding of our country,” he said. in its announcement the Movement for the Integration and Liberation of Homosexuals (Movilh), which for many years fought for the legalization of these marriages.

A few minutes before the express vote in Parliament, the Senate had approved the bill with 21 votes in favor, eight against and three abstentions.

The bill, as reported by the Athens News Agency, was submitted in 2017 at the initiative of former President Michelle Bachelet, whose term ended in 2018.

In Latin America, same-sex marriage is legal in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and 14 of Mexico’s 32 states.