A Supreme Court ruling in February has already granted same-sex couples who have lived together for more than two years the same inheritance rights as married couples, pushing this traditionally conservative Roman Catholic nation into the forefront of the gay rights movement in Latin America."The Colombian Supreme Court's ruling is a pioneering decision in the region," said Marcelo Ferreyra, Latin America and Caribbean coordinator for the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, which until 2003 was headquartered in San Francisco. "Its arguments are very radical, on the vanguard."
The Colombian court ruling comes in the wake of other advances for gay rights in the region.
Last year, Mexico City recognized inheritance and some pension rights, while same-sex civil unions are now legal in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. The southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and the Argentine province of Rio Negro have also legalized same-sex civil unions. The Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo allows same-sex couples to adopt children, while Rio de Janeiro grants public employees who are in stable same-sex relationships the same rights as married civil servants. Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, grants same-sex couples the right to enter into civil unions and receive social security and inheritance rights.
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