Uruguay's Senate
approves gay marriage
buenosairesherald.com, 3/4/2013
Uruguay’s Senate yesterday voted to legalize gay marriage by approving a
single law governing matrimony for heterosexuals and homosexuals.
Senators voted 23-8 in favour of the bill, which was passed by the Lower
House in December. It must now return to the Lower Chamber of Congress with
changes.
If approved, the law would make Uruguay the second nation in Latin America
and the 12th in the world to legalize gay marriage. Argentina legalized
same-sex marriage in 2010.
“It goes beyond homosexuality, it’s about a law where everyone shares the
same rights and obligations,” said Federico Grana, a lawmaker in the ruling
Frente Amplio coalition and a member of the Black Sheep Collective, a gay
rights group that presented the bill’s first draft.
The bill lets couples, gay or straight, decide whose surname goes first
when they name their children. It also clarifies rules for adoption and
in-vitro fertilization, and eliminates the words “husband and woman” in
marriage contracts, referring instead to the gender-neutral “contracting
parties.”
“This is an issue of liberty, of people’s choice and justice,” said Senator
Rafael Michelini. “Liberty because the state should not meddle in who you
should marry; of justice because if you marry abroad with someone of the same
sex and later return to Uruguay, your marriage should be recognized.”
The Roman Catholic Church opposes the proposal, but the Church has little political
influence in secular Uruguay, which became the first Latin American country to
legalize abortion last year.
President José Mujica has been pushing for liberal-leaning proposals in his
mandate and says he plans to sign the marriage bill into law.
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