Chile senators approve gay marriage bill; one step left

Agence France-Presse

<p>SANTIAGO - Senators in Chile passed a long-awaited bill Wednesday authorizing same-sex marriage, in what LGBT campaigners hope will be the penultimate step to its final approval.</p><p>Chile, which <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/10/01/19/gay-marriage-legal-in-28-countries">legalized</a> same-sex civil unions in 2015, has been waiting on this bill since 2017, when it was sent to congress by then-President Michelle Bachelet.</p><p>In a surprise move, her conservative successor, Sebastian Pinera, announced last year he would seek the bill&#x27;s urgent passage through parliament, and on Wednesday, the senate approved the bill by 28 votes to 14. </p><p>The bill will now be sent to the Chamber of Deputies, the second house of congress, for the final okay.</p><p>&quot;We want to move towards a country with other values, which advances in justice and in eradicating all forms of discrimination,&quot; said senate speaker Yasna Provoste, a Christian Democrat who voted in favor of the bill.</p><p>But Manuel Jose Ossandon, of Pinera&#x27;s conservative National Renovation party, argued that &quot;marriage is in its essence a union between a man and a woman with the possibility of procreation, while same-sex relations fall into a different category, as they do not have this option to procreate.&quot;</p><p>The bill stipulates that Chile&#x27;s marriage law, applicable only to heterosexual unions, should be expanded to extend the same rights, including adoption, to same-sex couples.</p><p>&quot;When the law is approved, there will cease to exist in our country (the concept of) first-grade and second-grade couples,&quot; said Oscar Rementeria, spokesman for the Movilh LGBTI rights movement.</p><p>Same-sex marriage is legal in six Latin American and Caribbean United Nations member countries, as well as several states of Mexico, according to a 2020 report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). </p><p>Also on Wednesday, Chile&#x27;s neighbor Argentina added a third gender option to applications for national identity documents and passports.</p><p>In a first for Latin America, any applicant who does not identify as male or female can tick a third box that will cover a variety of options, including non-binary, unspecified and undefined, according to a notice published in the official gazette.</p><p>&quot;The government should not care about the gender of its citizens,&quot; said President Alberto Fernandez, issuing the first three identity documents that made use of the new option at a ceremony to mark the change.</p><p>Argentina also recently introduced a quota for transgender workers in the civil service.</p><div><strong>burs-mlr/sw</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1640491" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>SANTIAGO - Senators in Chile passed a long-awaited bill Wednesday authorizing same-sex marriage, in what LGBT campaigners hope will be the penultimate step to its final approval.</p>

SANTIAGO - Senators in Chile passed a long-awaited bill Wednesday authorizing same-sex marriage, in what LGBT campaigners hope will be the penultimate step to its final approval.