SANTIAGO, (Reuters) – After nearly four years of legislative wrangling, legislators in socially-conservative Chile yesterday gave the green light to civil unions for same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples.
The bill, known locally as the Civil Union Accord, will give many of the legal rights afforded to married couples to an estimated two million Chileans.
Most of those expected to benefit from the civil unions are unmarried, heterosexual couples though the move is also seen as a big step forward for gay rights.
“Civil unions are an essential institution for unmarried couples that live together. This is a legal status that does not discriminate and that will be applied to all types of couples, and most importantly, that recognizes the different types of families we have in our country, giving protection to all of them,” said government spokesman Alvaro Elizalde.
