After a decade-long legal battle, Chile’s Congress has officially passed a law to legalize same-sex marriage. Passed on Tuesday, the bill is expected to be signed into law soon by President Sebastian Pinera.
The road to marriage equality has been long and arduous in the conservative South American nation. The process to legalize same-sex marriage started in Chile in 2007 when then-President Michelle Bachelet pushed Congress to introduce a same-sex law.
Civil unions have been permitted in Chile since 2015, but do not offer all the benefits of marriage, such as the right to adoption. Chile joins other countries in Latin America which have passed marriage equality laws including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Uruguay.
After the vote, Minister of Social Development Karla Rubilar proclaimed, “Today is a historic day, our country has approved same-sex marriage, one more step forward in terms of justice, in terms of equality, recognizing that love is love.”
