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News > Latin America

Colombia Legalizes Gay Marriage, Huge Victory for LGBTI Rights

  • People kiss during a protest demanding the rights of the LGBTI community, at the Congress building in Bogota, Colombia.

    People kiss during a protest demanding the rights of the LGBTI community, at the Congress building in Bogota, Colombia. | Photo: Reuters

Published 7 April 2016
Opinion

Supreme Court rules by a 6-3 vote to give same-sex couples marriage rights.

Marriage equality has been legalized in Colombia, a huge step forward for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender and Intersex movement in Latin America.

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The Colombian Supreme Court approved the expansion of rights on Thursday, approving the measure 6-3. Adoption and civil unions were already legalized, and in 2011 the court ruled that the Colombian Congress had two years to pass legislation that would allow same-sex couples to wed.

A law was voted down by the Colombian Senate in 2013.

Since no legislation was passed, couples began filing marriage licenses and mounting legal challenges to the lack of equality.

These challenges paved the way for the progressive measure.

The decision comes after a string of victories for the LGBTI community in Colombia.

Colombia recently passed a law that allows members of the transgender community to be legally recognized by the gender that matches their identity, not the one issued at birth.

The court also struck down the ban on same-sex adoptions in November.

The law provides another opportunity for the LGBTI community to be seen at an equal level in Colombia, and the rest of Latin America.

There are few countries with marriage equality in the region.

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