RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The bill that would allow, in a historical way, equal marriage in Chile has now gone through the two chambers of Congress and obtained overwhelming support in both houses on December 7.
The processing had been extended on November 30, when the final vote was supposed to be. Still, the parliamentary process was diverted to a commission formed by senators and members of Congress who fine-tuned some details of its content.
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The Chilean Congress has now approved “marriage” for same sex couples, in addition to the “civil union” status that has been in effect since 2015. The difference is that marriage, unlike the civil union, permits couples to adopt and to be named as parents of children.
With this approval, Chile has become the eighth country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, after Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Uruguay, and 24 of the 32 states in Mexico. The decision was celebrated by sexual diversity groups, urging the parliamentary process for weeks. However, they denounced that the repeal of several “transphobic” articles in the law was left behind during the discussion.
“Despite this, in general terms, we can say that we are satisfied because the text recognizes marriage and all types of affiliation, and this is excellent news. We hope for its rapid processing,” said Isabel Amor, director of Fundación Iguales, one of the most active platforms in the country.
The bill was introduced in 2017 thanks to former socialist president Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018) and was stalled for almost four years. Last July, in a surprise turnabout, the current president, right-wing Sebastián Piñera, said that the “time had come” to approve the initiative and instructed Parliament to debate it urgently.