Gay Rights Bill Derailed in Colombia, Bloggers React

Saturday, June 23, 2007 : BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia was set to become the first nation in Latin America to grant rights to same-sex couples, but the bill was derailed at the last minute by conservative senators, reports El Tiempo of Bogotá and the Associated Press.

The bill, which would have granted same-sex couples the same rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security as heterosexual couples, was expected to pass. But the bill was defeated on Tuesday in a surprise floor vote called by Sen. Manuel Virguez Piraquive, whose party is closely aligned with an evangelical church. With many of its supporters absent, the bill was voted down 34 to 29, in the 102-member Senate. The bill’s supporters vowed to resume the legislative process when Congress reconvenes.

The Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo received more than 500 comments on its online forum from readers reacting to the news, both applauding and lamenting the defeat of the bill.

While the majority of bloggers debated the merits of rights for same-sex couples, others expressed their disappointed with the way the measure was defeated in the Senate. Some saw the unusual call for a floor vote as a sneaky tactic, and, according to one anonymous blogger, “a vile, mean trick.”

Others thought the ruling highlighted the double standard of Colombia’s laws. “On the one hand, for certain reactionary sectors it seems like such a horrible thing to legislate in favor of the fundamental rights of minorities that are discriminated against, like gays," Pier Paolo writes. "But on the other hand, they don’t seem to think it’s immoral, but rather very natural, to pass laws that ‘award’ the aberrant and criminal conduct of assassins like the paramilitary, or to let the leader of the guerillas, kidnappers and degraders of this country go free.”