August 10th, 2011
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has made good on his promise to support a civil unions bill by signing and sending to Congress a bill which would grant same sex couples the right to register a Acuerdo de Vida en Pareja (Life Partner Agreement). (AFP)
Chile’s conservative president proposed legislation Tuesday to recognize gay civil unions, granting them some of the same rights as married couples in the ultra-Catholic country.
“All forms of marriage deserve respect, dignity and the support of the state,” said President Sebastian Pinera, who signed the proposal and sent it to Congress.
“This puts opposite-sex and same-sex couples on the same footing, because in both cases it is possible to develop love, affection and respect.”
Pinera, who brought conservatives to power after 20 years of center-left rule in the country, grated on his own election campaign when he announced his intention to legalize civil unions for gay couples. He said two million people in Chile live together without marrying.
I’ll admit that I assumed that Pinera’s campaign advertising which included gay couples was just for show and unlikely to translate into legislation.
The bill may face backlash from the Catholic Church. Chile is 80% Catholic.
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tavdy79
August 11th, 2011
Any Catholic backlash is likely to hit a fairly major stumbling block: the church’s protection of paedo priests. Catholic clergy will fight against the partnerships bill, but they’ll weaken themselves as a result.
margarita villarroel
August 11th, 2011
Señor presidente,mis respetos para UD.solo quiero pedirle que por el bienestar de nuestra patria no apoye ninguna ley que valla en contra de la palabra de Dios.Si Ud es un hombre que teme Dios sabra a travez de las escritura que Dios no tolera el pecado la biblia esta llena de ejemplos.Mejor tenga la astucia de rey de ninive que al saber la tolerancia al pecado de Dios,llamo a toda la nacion al arrepiento .Todas las sentencias a los pueblos pecadoras,sin faltar ninguna se cumplieron ,por eso espero que Ud a travez del poder que El ha puesto en su mano sea bendicion y no maldicion a nuestro amado Chile.Dios le bendiga.
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