CHILE: Civil Unions Advance

In its first session of 2014, yesterday the Chilean Senate advanced its civil unions bill. The Santiago Times reports:

Senators voted in favor of the Life Partner Agreement (AVP) late Tuesday evening with 28 votes in favor, six against and two abstentions. The bill will now pass to a constitutional assembly before returning to Congress on Jan. 20. The country’s leading LGBTQ organization hailed the outcome as significant step toward passing a law which “the majority of the country” wants. “We are happy for this significant progress towards bettering conditions and equality for all families, regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identification of its members,” a Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh) statement read. “Today we have made one more step in the struggle for civil unions, which we began a decade ago. What was a dream is now becoming real.” Introduced to Congress in August 2011 by the administration of President Sebastián Piñera, of the center-right National Renewal (RN), the bill has endured a drawn-out two years of debate and stalling, mainly because of stiff opposition from the RN’s coalition partner, the right-wing Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party.

A group of evangelical protesters were ejected from the Senate gallery shortly after the vote.