Various sources including: REUTERS – BBC NEWS

President Tabare Vazquez, with his center-left political leaning, signed legislation this week making Uruguay, with a population of 3.6 million, the first country in Latin America to allow same-sex couples to enter civil unions.

The text of the legislation describes “two people - of any sex, identity, orientation or sexual option - who maintain an emotional relationship sexual in nature, that is exclusive, stable and permanent, without being united in matrimony.”

Couples must have been together for at least five years and sign a registry. They will have rights similar to those granted to married couples on such matters as inheritance, pensions and parenting rights.

Several cities, including Buenos Aires and Mexico City, already have gay civil union laws on the books. Uruguay’s law will be the first ever nationwide measure in Latin America – which, it may surprise you, is home to about half of the world’s current Roman Catholics.

Gay marriage will remain illegal in Uruguay due to the power and control of the Catholic Church – they announcing yesterday that Catholic politicians have a moral duty to oppose it.

“In no way can homosexual cohabitation be accepted because it does not meet the basic criteria defining marriage, it is therefore unacceptable to place it in suchlike equal level.” This was a statement from the Episcopal Conference of Uruguay, echoing the Roman Catholic clergy on attacking the validity of gay relationships.

Tag: gay|Tag: sex|Tag: latin|