SANTIAGO, Dec 7 Reuters - Chile's Congress passed a law to legalize same-sex marriage on Tuesday, a milestone for the conservative South American nation after a decade-long legal battle and as the country delicately poised ahead of a crossroads election this month.
Today is a historic day, our country has approved same-sex marriage, one more step forward in terms of justice, equality and recognition of the fact that love is love, Minister of Social Development Karla Rubilar said after the vote.
The bill was approved in November by the Senate and the lower house of parliament, which had previously been partially approved in November before the Senate sent it back to a committee to clarify ambiguities.
Sebastian Pinera, who will leave office in March, backed the bill and is expected to sign it into law.
The vote was started in 2007 when President Michelle Bachelet pushed Congress to pass a same-sex law. Chile is poised to join more than 20 countries worldwide with legal same-sex marriage, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay in Latin America.
It is hard to believe that today we are taking this step, said Rolando Jimenez of Movilh, one of the major backers of the bill, who helped spearhead Chile's push to legalize same sex marriage for more than a decade.
On December 19 in Chile, a new president will be elected between the progressive Gabriel Boric and the social conservative Jose Antonio Kast, a practicing Catholic. The two offer wildly different visions for the country's future.
Kast disagrees with same-sex marriage, but he said he would have signed the bill anyway, had it been passed by Congress during a potential presidency of his.
Chile has a conservative reputation, even though it is deeply Catholic Latin American peers. A large majority of Chileans now support same-sex marriage and Chileans have shown signs of moving left on social and cultural issues in recent years.
Since 2015, civil unions have been allowed in Chile, which gives same-sex partners many but not all of the benefits of married couples, like the right to adoption.