Recognition of same-sex unions in Chile

Chile currently does not recognize same-sex unions.

During January's presidential campaign 2006 both President Michelle Bachelet and center-right candidate Sebastián Piñera voiced their support for civil unions but the Catholic Church and many members of Congress are opposed.

Chile's national LGBT rights group, the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, says it is cautiously optimistic the measure will pass.

Debate of creating a civil union law continues to go on. In October 2009 new Civil Union Bill was introduced.^[1]

On June 15, 2010, Senator Andres Allamand announced he will introduce a another bill to legalize civil unions.^[2]

On August 3, 2010 Senator Fulvio Rossi of the Chilean Socialist Party introduced a bill to legalize same sex marriage in the country.^[3]

An April 2009 poll concluded that only 33.2% of Chileans are in favor of allowing same-sex couplesto be married, with 65.2% opposed.^[4] However, support among young people is much higher: according to a study by the National Youth Institute of Chile, 56% of people aged between 15 and 29 supported same-sex marriage, while 51.3% supported same-sex adoption.^[5][6]

^{From Wikipedia}