With a six-to-three vote, Colombia’s constitutional court struck down a proposed ruling attempting to define marriage as unions strictly between men and women. “All human beings…have the fundamental right to be married with no discrimination,” said magistrate Alberto Rojas, according to The Guardian.
This decision sets the stage for Colombia to become the fourth Latin American country to recognize gay marriage, following in the footsteps of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. But this right is long overdue. According to Luís Felipe Rodríguez, the court pushed back the debate eight times since August 2015.
Also in 2011, a Colombian court ordered congress to pass a law by 2013 that gave gay couples the same rights as straight married couples. If not, in 2013, couples could “‘formalize’ their unions before notaries and judges.” However, the court didn’t specify what this meant. So instead of receiving marriage certificates, same-sex couples could enter into a “solemn contract.”
