Uruguay has announced that the Chamber of Deputies will vote on the legalization of same sex marriage on 11 December.
Five months ago, the government approved the recognition of same sex marriage legalized in other countries. The law was supported by the Constitution Committee and the Codes of the House including two opposition legislators.
Frente Amplio legislator Julio Bango, a supporter of the law, said the law would pass the Senate in 2013 after the summer recess. He noted the dispute about name order for children of same sex marriages but said that issue would be resolved in the next week.
The law reads, “the institution of marriage will mean the union of two parties, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation thereof at the same terms with the same effects established in the Civil Code”. The law will extend to include homosexuals, lesbians and transsexuals.
In 2007 Uruguay became the first Latin American country to legalize same sex civil unions.
In 2009, Uruguay passed the Law of Gender Identity and Name Change Registry that states “everyone has the right to free development of their personality according to their own gender identity, regardless of their biological, genetic, anatomical, morphological, hormonal or other sexual assignment”.
Uruguay has passed several other liberal laws such as legalization of abortion and the sale of government-owned marijuana.
