The Chilean Movement for Sexual Minorities (Movimiento de Integración y Liberación Homosexual—Movilh) filed a lawsuit against the Chilean State to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) on Monday. The action followed the Supreme Court’s rejection of a protection claim presented by three gay couples that were denied the possibility to get married. The Chilean Congress is the only organ that can modify the law, which currently authorizes heterosexual unions only.
Rolando Jiménez, head of Movilh, claims that Chile violates at least five articles in the American Convention of Human Rights by prohibiting same sex marriages in the country. Aiming to pressure for legalization, this is the first lawsuit of its kind to be presented to the regional body. The action was filed by renowned lawyers Ciro Colombara and Branislav Marelic, along with Hunter T. Carter, same-sex marriage activist in the United States.
The debate on gay rights in Chile is not new. Recent acts of violence and international pressure have revealed the pressing need for lawmaking in support of LGBT rights in Chile. A recent study by Radio Cooperativa showed that 54.9 percent of Chileans support same-sex marriage, and in 2011 President Sebastián Piñera sent a proposal to Congress seeking to legalize same-sex civil unions.
Despite these and other achievements in countries like Mexico and Argentina, discrimination towards gay populations still exists in the Americas, particularly in the political arena. Watch an AQ and Efecto Naim joint report on LGBT rights in the region.
