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 Editorials | Issues | June 2007 
Colombia's Right Derails Gay Rights Bill
 Joshua Goodman - Associated Press
| | A gay couple embraces during a protest outside Congress in Bogota, Wednesday, June 20, 2007, the day after a gay rights bill was derailed at the last minute by a bloc of conservative senators. The bill, which had been endorsed by President Alvaro Uribe, would have made Colombia the first nation in Latin America to grant gay couples in long-term relationships the same rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security as heterosexual couples. (AP/William Fernando Martinez) |
Bogota, Colombia - A landmark gay rights bill was derailed at the last minute by a bloc of conservative senators, but supporters vowed Wednesday to revive the legislation.
Slightly different versions of the bill had been approved by Colombia‘s Senate and house of representatives and Tuesday‘s vote on the final, reconciled version was expected to be routine.
Other conservative lawmakers then broke ranks with the pro-Uribe faction backing the bill and it was defeated, 34-29, in the 102-member Senate. Many of the bill‘s supporters were absent.
Sen. Armando Benedetti, a sponsor of the bill, vowed to restart the legislative process when Congress reconvenes on July 20, and he criticized Uribe for not defending the initiative more forcefully.
Although states and cities have passed laws allowing gay couples to share assets, no other country in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic region has done so at a national level.
While homosexuality is still taboo in much of Latin America, there has been increasing acceptance in many areas. Mexico City and the Mexican state of Coahuila recently joined the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires and the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in legalizing same-sex civil unions. |
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