Chilean Senate Approves Same-Sex Marriage Bill

Michael Lavers reports at the Washington Blade:

The Chilean Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. The vote took place less than a month after President Sebastián Piñera announced he supports marriage equality and urged lawmakers in the South American country to quickly act on the issue. The bill now goes to the Chilean House of Representatives. Same-sex couples have been able to enter into civil unions in Chile since 2015.

Read the full article.

Elsewhere in South America, same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Bolivia instituted a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2009. The Venezuelan constitution contains a de facto ban as it defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Paraguay’s constitution bans all recognition of same-sex couples. The former Dutch territory of Suriname offers no recognition of same-sex couples. Homosexuality remains criminalized in Guyana. A same-sex marriage bill has been long pending in Peru, which also doesn’t offer civil unions.

Chilean Senate approves marriage equality bill https://t.co/2rDwtrCKMB

— Washington Blade (@WashBlade) July 21, 2021