Uruguay Senate approves marriage equality
The Uruguay Senate yesterday voted to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, paving the way for Uruguay to become the second Latin American country to legalize marriage equality.
Uruguay’s bill would not only legalize marriage equality; it would also clarify rules for adoption and in vitro fertilization, make the vocabulary of marriage contracts gender-neutral, and give same-sex parents greater rights in deciding their children’s last names.
A lower house also approved the measure in December, and now the bill will go back to a lower chamber of Congress for amendments. Argentina was the first country in Latin America — and the 12th in the world — to legalize same-sex marriage.
“It goes beyond homosexuality, it’s about a law where everyone shares the same rights and obligations,” said Federico Grana, a legislator 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.
“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 recognised.”
Awesome awesome awesome. So thrilled to see this.
Yes
