Gay marriage, adoption rights open path to equality in Latin America

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published in “El Tiempo” of Bogota, Colombia (eltiempo.com) under the heading Poco a poco se abren paso las bodas gays en América Latina

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY – For the gay community, 2009 was a year of great advances in the fight for equal rights in a region where fierce resistance stems from a strong Catholic tradition.

With the celebration in Argentina of Latin America’s first gay marriage and the legalization of this type of wedding in Mexico City, the gay community closed the year with important advances in its fight for equal rights, this in open conflict with the strong tradition of Catholicism throughout the region.

The Argentine wedding took place just two days after the Mexico City’s legislative assembly approved December 21 a law that would allow gay couple to marry. That law becomes effective in Mexico in February.

Buenos Aires and Mexico City, as well as Uruguay and Colombia, already allow civil unions, but marriage among people of the same sex was not made legal in the region until now.

The controversy over gay marriage carries with it a debate over adoption rights for couples of the same sex.

Along these lines, this year there were advances in Uruguay. A new law passed to authorize adoption for gay couples while another passed which allows name and sex records to be changed.

In El Salvador, an attempt to expressly block gay marriages failed. While clauses that prohibit sexual discrimination were included in the constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador.

In Colombia, an ongoing judicial struggle indicates that couples of the same sex may win adoption rights, according to Germán Rincón, member of Colombia Diversa.

Even Cuba seems to have left marginalization behind and has raised the possibility of permitting legal unions and adoptions.

On the other hand, in Costa Rica the highest court rejected a plea to legalize gay unions. And in Peru, the government passed a new police law mandating severe sanctions for officers who are gay, because they affect the image of the institution.