Same-sex marriage in Colombia has been legal since 28 April 2016 in accordance with a 6–3 ruling from the
Constitutional Court of Colombia
The Constitutional Court of Colombia ( es, Corte Constitucional de Colombia) is the supreme constitutional court of Colombia. Part of the Judiciary, it is the final appellate court for matters involving interpretation of the Constitution with ...
that banning
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
is unconstitutional under the
Constitution of Colombia
The Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991 ( es, Constitución Política de Colombia de 1991), is the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia. It was promulgated in Constitutional Gazette number 114 on Thursday, July 4, 1991, and is als ...
. The decision took effect immediately, and made
Colombia the fourth country in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
to legalize same-sex marriage,
after
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. The first same-sex marriage was performed in
Cali on 24 May 2016.
Colombia has also recognised same-sex
de facto unions, providing some of the rights and benefits of
marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
, since 2007.
De facto unions
A
de facto union ( es, unión marital de hecho, ) can be registered through a public deed with a
notary
A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems.
A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...
or a
judge. A registered union may provide greater convenience when accessing rights. If unregistered, a person may have to prove the union's existence to a court.
On 7 February 2007, the
Constitutional Court of Colombia
The Constitutional Court of Colombia ( es, Corte Constitucional de Colombia) is the supreme constitutional court of Colombia. Part of the Judiciary, it is the final appellate court for matters involving interpretation of the Constitution with ...
extended several
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
and
pension rights to same-sex couples.
A subsequent court decision, handed down in October 2007, extended
social security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
and
health insurance rights to same-sex couples. On 28 January 2009, the Constitutional Court gave 42 more rights to cohabitating same-sex couples that were previously only granted to heterosexual couples (including nationality, residence permits, testimony when in jury, family-properties laws, etc.).
[Histórico: Colombia tiene matrimonio homosexual](_blank)
, Pink News, 30 January 2009 Another ruling that was handed down on 13 April 2011 extended
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officia ...
rights to same-sex couples.
[ El Tiempo. ]
Corte explica por qué matrimonio homosexual es decisión del Congreso
''. Retrieved 15 May 2013. In a ruling issued on 4 January 2021, the court ruled that a person who wishes to prove a de facto union must provide details such as the dates during which the partners have lived together, social events they attended together, mutual support during difficult times, or joint projects.
Statistics
From February 2007 to August 2012, at least 51 same-sex de facto unions were registered by notaries in the coastal city of
Cartagena. During that same time period, 74 and 140 such unions were registered in the cities of
Soledad and
Bogotá, respectively.
Civil union proposals
On 15 June 2007, the
Chamber of Representatives approved a historic same-sex union bill by a vote of 62–43,
and President
Álvaro Uribe
Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010.
Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in t ...
was expected to sign the measure into law, which had been approved by the
Colombian Senate
The Senate of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Senado de la República de Colombia) is the upper house of the Congress of Colombia, with the lower house being the House of Representatives. The Senate has 108 members elected for concurrent (non-r ...
in April. However, on 19 June, a group of conservative senators broke party discipline in what is usually a routine vote on the final form of a bill and defeated the measure by 29–34 in the 102-member Senate. About 80
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
advocates held a demonstration outside the
Capitolio Nacional
Capitolio Nacional (or National Capitol) is a building on Bolivar Square in central Bogotá, the construction of which began in 1848 and was finished in 1926. It houses both houses of the Congress of Colombia. It was designed by Thomas Reed.
...
the following day, protesting the bill's defeat.
Supporters vowed to revive the legislation.
The bill, which had been endorsed by conservative President Uribe,
would have made Colombia the first nation in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
to grant same-sex couples in long-term relationships the same rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security as married couples.
On 17 March 2015, Senator
Armando Benedetti
Armando Alberto Benedetti Villaneda (born 29 August 1967) is a Colombian politician. He served as Senator of Colombia from 2006 to 2022 and Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia from 2002 to 2006.
Career
Benedetti attended the Po ...
introduced a civil union bill. The bill was not voted on. It was re-introduced by Senator
Roy Barreras
Roy Leonardo Barreras Montealegre (born 27 November 1963) is a Colombian politician and 2018 presidential candidate, currently serving as senator since 2010 and President of the Senate of Colombia since 2022. In addition to senator, Barreras se ...
on 30 July 2015. On the same day, senators Benedetti and Barreras introduced a bill allowing
same-sex couples to adopt children, but likewise the measure was not voted on.
Same-sex marriage
Legislative proposals
On 26 July 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously 9–0 (in case C-577/2011) that, although it could not change the definition of
marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
as "the union of a man and a woman", same-sex couples have the right to form a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
. The court ordered the
Congress of Colombia
The Congress of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Congreso de la República de Colombia) is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.
The Congress of Colombia consists of the 108-seat Senate, and the 188-seat Chamber of Repre ...
to pass legislation addressing this issue, whether by legalizing same-sex marriage or another marriage-like union, within two years (by 20 June 2013). If such a law were not passed by that deadline, the court ruled that same-sex couples would automatically become able to register their relationship with a notary.
In 2011, four bills were announced in Congress to recognize same-sex couples; two used the word "marriage", and the other two would have created civil unions.
In October 2012, Senator Armando Benedetti introduced a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. The bill initially only allowed for civil unions, but the text was changed by Benedetti. President
Juan Manuel Santos
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
An economist by profession and a journalist by trade ...
did not take a position on the bill.
The Senate's First Committee approved the bill on 4 December 2012. On 24 April 2013, it was rejected by the Senate in a 17–51 vote,
after being postponed on two different occasions. The negative outcome was expected, as the two biggest parties made a commitment to kill the bill.
Senator Benedetti responded to the vote calling the Colombian Congress "worthless", and stating that senators who voted against the project wanted the Congress to be like the ones of "
Congo,
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
,
Bolivia and
Haiti".
Days before the vote, the superintendent of the Superintendence of Notaries and Registrations of Colombia, Jorge Enrique Vélez, announced that if the Congress failed to pass the same-sex marriage bill before the 20 June deadline, the
Ministry of Justice and Law, led by Minister
Ruth Stella Correa Palacio, would prepare guidelines for notaries and judges to conduct "solemn contracts" for same-sex couples. On 18 April 2013, the Superintendence presented its own proposal, which sought to set guidelines for the celebration of same-sex couples' "marital unions". On 20 June, notaries across the country started performing these unions; however, LGBT activists advised couples not to enter into those contracts because, they said, the framework for a "marital contract" did not exist in Colombian law. In the following days, several couples made petitions to judges to have their relationships recognized as a marriage.
On 24 July 2013, a judge in
Bogotá declared a male same-sex couple legally married, after a ruling on 11 July accepting the petition. This was the first same-sex couple married in Colombia. In September 2013, two judges married two same-sex couples. The first marriage was challenged by a conservative group, and it was initially annulled. However, in October, the Bogotá High Court maintained the validity of that marriage. The issue of same-sex marriage was once again discussed by the Constitutional Court after the
Office of the Inspector General
In the United States, Office of Inspector General (OIG) is a generic term for the oversight division of a federal or state agency aimed at preventing inefficient or unlawful operations within their parent agency. Such offices are attached to ma ...
requested that the court invalidate all the marriages. A hearing was scheduled for 7 May 2015. It was postponed as some judges were not present and a new hearing open to the public occurred on 30 July 2015. A verdict was to be reached before 31 August 2015.
On 30 July 2015, Senator Benedetti introduced a same-sex marriage bill. The Senate's First Committee started to debate the bill on 9 December 2015, but it was not voted on by the Congress.
Recognition of marriages performed abroad
In May 2015, Interior Minister
Juan Fernando Cristo announced the government's support for a move to recognise same-sex marriage. He made the statement the day after a multi-country same-sex couple began an unprecedented legal battle to have their 2013 marriage
performed in Spain recognised in Colombia.
Colombian government agencies began recognising same-sex marriages lawfully performed in foreign jurisdictions in March 2016. Same-sex couples married abroad are now entitled to the same visa, healthcare benefits, inheritance and pension rights as heterosexual spouses once they take a stamped marriage certificate and identification papers to the nearest designated office.
2016 Constitutional Court ruling
In March 2016, a draft of a ruling, considered to be a minority opinion of the
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
, was published by Judge Jorge Ignacio Pretelt. The draft argued that marriage applied only to one man and one woman and that it was up to Congress to legalize same-sex marriage, and thus not a matter for the courts to decide. On 7 April 2016, the court voted 6–3 against the proposal. Judge Alberto Rojas Río was assigned to prepare a new proposal, which was expected to be in line with the court majority's view (i.e. to declare that prohibiting same-sex couples from getting married is unconstitutional). The court announced its decision on 28 April 2016, ruling by a 6–3 margin that "marriage between people of the same sex does not violate the constitutional order." The ruling established that every "solemn contract" entered into by same-sex couples since 20 June 2013 (under the provisions of the court's previous ruling in the C-577/2011 case) is legally valid and to be recognised as a marriage, meaning that couples who have entered into such unions since 20 June 2013 need not remarry as a result of the court's new ruling. The ruling was officially published on 7 July 2016.
Judge
Maria Victoria Calle Correa wrote, "all people are free to choose independently to start a family in keeping with their
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
... receiving equal treatment under the constitution and the law." The court's ruling informed state judges, notaries and clerks that they "must ensure that citizens' fundamental rights are observed and that they are all granted equal treatment."
The first same-sex wedding following the ruling occurred in
Cali on 24 May 2016.
On 12 July 2016, the Constitutional Court rejected a challenge filed by a conservative group to nullify the ruling. In January 2017, the court rejected an appeal filed by former Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez.
Statistics
In Colombia,
civil marriage
A civil marriage is a marriage performed, recorded, and recognized by a government official. Such a marriage may be performed by a religious body and recognized by the state, or it may be entirely secular.
History
Every country maintaining a pop ...
s are performed by notaries and judges. Every marriage performed in Colombia has to be registered with the
National Civil Registry.
According to the Superintendence of Notaries and Registrations, notaries performed 138 same-sex marriages in 2016, 341 in 2017 and 316 in 2018, with most occurring in
Antioquia,
Cundinamarca (including
Bogotá),
Valle del Cauca and
Risaralda departments. By June 2019, 968 same-sex marriages had been performed by notaries in Colombia since legalization; 258 in Bogotá, 240 in
Medellín, 92 in
Cali, and 79 in
Pereira. Six
same-sex divorces occurred in 2017 and five in 2018. 1,703 same-sex marriages were performed in Colombia between 2016 and 2021, representing about 0.5% of all marriages.
In December 2019, Mayor
Claudia López Hernández
Claudia Nayibe López Hernández (born 9 March 1970) is a Colombian politician. She was a Senator of the Republic of Colombia and was the vice-presidential candidate in the 2018 presidential election for the Green Alliance party. In October ...
of Bogotá married her partner
Angélica Lozano Correa, in one of the more notable same-sex marriages in Colombia.
Public opinion
A poll conducted between December 2009 and January 2010 in Bogotá showed that 63% of the city's population was in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage, while 36% was against it. The poll showed that women and people with a higher education level were more likely to support same-sex marriage.
A nationwide
Ipsos
Ipsos Group S.A. () (an acronym of ) is a multinational market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, Chairman of the company, and has been publicly traded on the P ...
poll conducted in November 2012 found that 28% of Colombians supported same-sex marriage, while 66% opposed it and 6% did not respond. According to a
Pew Research Center survey conducted between 28 November 2013 and 4 March 2014, 28% of Colombians supported same-sex marriage, while 64% were opposed.
A
Gallup poll conducted in July 2016 showed that 40% of Colombians supported same-sex marriage, while 57% were opposed.
The 2017 AmericasBarometer showed that 34% of Colombians supported same-sex marriage.
A 2018 Gallup poll found that support for same-sex marriage had increased to 46%, with 52% of Colombians opposed.
In October 2019, an Invamer poll showed that support for same-sex marriage had, for the first time ever, reached 50%, with 47% opposing. 36% of respondents supported
adoption by same-sex couples, while 62% opposed.
See also
*
LGBT rights in Colombia
*
Recognition of same-sex unions in the Americas
References
External links
*
{{Use dmy dates, date=October 2019
LGBT rights in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia
2016 in LGBT history