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The historic bill that would make it possible to legalize same-sex marriage took another step forward in Chile on Tuesday, when it was approved in the Lower House. The original project was presented to Congress in 2017, by the government of then-President Michelle Bachelet. However, the debate only advanced in June, when Sebastián Piñera announced that he would support the initiative.
In a session that ended with applause, the Lower House of Chile approved a bill on Tuesday, November 23, that would allow same-sex marriage.
The deputies approved it by a large majority (101 votes in favor, 30 against and 2 abstentions), leaving the progressive norm one step away from becoming law, since now only the final endorsement of the Senate is missing, where it seems to have the necessary support .
APPROVED: By 101 votes in favor, 30 against and 2 abstentions, the Chamber of Deputies approves equal marriage. Centuries of injustice against family diversity are being left behind 💪🏳️⚧️🌈 pic.twitter.com/4ouAFZUo6m
– Movilh Chile (@Movilh) November 23, 2021
The legislative initiative, in addition to calling unions between people of the same sex marriage, allows adoption and filiation. It is one of the biggest struggles of LGTBI groups in Chile, where homosexual people can only unite under the figure of the Civil Union Agreement (AUC), which does not recognize filiative rights.
The law at the service of “love between all kinds of couples”
“Equal marriage is the protection of the family, an urgent issue that constitutes a light of hope for the country,” reacted Isabel Amor, director of the Iguales Foundation, one of the most active LGTBI platforms in the country.
“We believe in the dignity of the different types of family, the law has to favor that love can develop between all types of couples”, declared for his part the Christian Democrat deputy Matías Walker.
As the lower house made some changes to the bill, it must be approved again by the upper house, before being sent to the center-right president Sebastián Piñera.
Among the changes introduced by the Lower House, is the adoption of a more gender-neutral terminology, such as the change of the words “husband” and “wife” for spouse.
Sebastián Piñera was unexpectedly one of the precursors of the project
Chile’s LGBTI community is hopeful that the latest revision of the text by the president will not be an obstacle to its approval. Indeed, last July, Sebastián Piñera declared that “the time had come” to approve the initiative. He even instructed Parliament to urgently debate it.
The decision was surprising, since the issue was not on the public agenda. Furthermore, as a right-wing leader, the president had never publicly supported marriage equality.
So this Tuesday, the ruling parliamentarian Ximena Ossandón regretted that Piñera had urged the debate: “A relationship between two men is not the same as a heterosexual one, although the law says so. Nature itself sets its barriers,” he launched.
To which the deputy Diego Ibáñez, from the Broad Front, replied: “In the face of discourses of violence and hatred, it is necessary to respond with love.”
However, the initiative was initially promoted by former socialist president Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018). The project had been introduced in 2017 for its momentum, before stalling for nearly four years.
And the Chileans had to wait until July for the initiative to be approved a first time in the Senate, with a large majority of 28 votes in favor and 14 against.
Chile, the eighth country in Latin America to legalize equal marriage
Now only remains the third and last stage of the process: a new passage through the Senate. And if passed, it will become law 90 days after the bill is published in the official government gazette.
Chile would then become the eighth country in Latin America to legalize it, after Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica and several states of Mexico.
The South American country of 19 million people has long had a conservative reputation, even compared to its deeply religious Latin American peers.
Still, in recent years, Chile has shown signs of moving to the left on social and cultural issues, and a large majority of Chileans now support same-sex marriage.
With EFE, Reuters and local media
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