Even in overwhelmingly Catholic Latin America, marriage equality and near equality continues to advance. Chile could be the next Catholic country to approve near-marriage, while avoiding the m-word itself. When it does so, Chile will join Argentina, which has full family equality, Mexico, where same- sex marriages contracted in the capital are recognized country - wide, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay, which all provide for civil unions, and Brazil, where there is de facto equality for same- sex couples.

Chile President Sebastian Pinera To Send Congress Gay Unions Bil

 

 

Chile President Sebastian Pinera has announced he’ll send Congress a bill legalizing civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

Pinera announced his intentions in an interview published Saturday by daily El Mercurio.

The conservative lawmaker said his bill seeks to “protect and safeguard” the civil rights of couples living outside of marriage and “safeguard the dignity of those couples, whether of opposite sex or even the same sex.”

The announcement comes after Chile’s largest gay rights group MOVILH called for a national march in support of gay marriage and suggested that Pinera had not lived up to a campaign pledge to back a civil unions bill. MOVILH’s demonstration is scheduled to take place on June 25 in the nation’s capital and largest city, Santiago, starting at 3PM at the Plaza Italia

Full report: On Top Magazine