The President of Costa Rica Signing The Accidental Gay Marriage Law
The Miracle of Costa Rica. When I first heard about I figure that would be easy to rescind it plus it has to be signed by the president. Well the president is signing it and it seems like a welcome set of events
Im the posting below from an argentinian news story as they see it:
Lawmakers in Costa Rica ‘accidentally’ approved a bill that may technically legalise same sex unions in the country.
The President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla signed a bill that changed a key article of the “Law of Young People,” which covers various social services for young people and laws governing marriage. Article 22, which regulates domestic partnerships, had previously specified that unions were recognised between a man and a woman.
However, JosĂ© MarĂa Villalta, a leftist lawmaker from San JosĂ©, changed some language in the bill to include “the right to recognition without discrimination contrary to human dignity.” Villalta is a member of the leftist Broad Front Party.
The lawmakers apparently approved the reform without reading it fully. After realizing the implications, conservative lawmakers immediately called for President Chinchilla to veto the bill.
Yet Chinchilla says she will not veto it, telling reporters “we’re going to go forward and will sign this law. We understand that the debate is over how some interpret the law and this alone is not sufficient for the executive to veto the law,” adding that the only members of government equipped to interpret the law are the judges and lawmakers.
Conservative politician, Justo Orozco, a member of the evangelical National Renovation Party, spoke out strongly against it, stating, “That preference is not a right. It’s a stunted development of sexual identity. It can change like alcoholism, tobacco addiction.”
Despite the outrage, Villalta claimed that, “During the discussion in the first debate, we explained that the Law of Young People should be interpreted with this sense of opening to gays and no one objected.”
Marco Castillo, president of the Diversity Movement, was reportedly very optimistic about the bills passage, but warns that for civil unions to survive, the bill would have to hold up in court under a constitutional challenge. Nevertheless, “It is a big step forward for gay rights in Costa Rica,” he said.
In 2011, Chinchilla said that although she is personally in favor of traditional marriage, she would not oppose gay marriage if the courts allowed it.
A poll in that same year found that 73% of Costa Ricans opposed same-sex marriage.
photos: wikipedia
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