Same-sex marriage in Colombia


Same-sex marriage in Colombia has been legal since 28 April 2016, when the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled by a 6-3 vote that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional under the Colombian Constitution of 1991. The first same-sex marriage to be performed in the country following the ruling occurred on 24 May 2016. The country has also recognised same-sex de facto unions since 2007.
Colombia was the fourth country in South America to allow same-sex marriage.

De facto unions

On 7 February 2007, the Constitutional Court of Colombia extended several common-law marriage property and pension rights to same-sex couples. A subsequent court decision, handed down in October 2007, extended social security and health insurance rights to same-sex couples. Later, on 28 January 2009, the Constitutional Court gave 42 more rights to cohabitating same-sex couples that were previously only granted to heterosexual couples. A final ruling that was handed down on 13 April 2011 extended inheritance rights to same-sex couples.
A couple is regarded as de facto after living together for two years. A de facto union can be either registered or unregistered; both have the same status, but the registered union may provide greater convenience when accessing rights. A union can be registered through a public deed before a notary or a judge.
On 26 July 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled by a 9-0 vote that it could not change the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but also that same-sex couples have the right to form a family and ordered the Colombian Congress to pass legislation addressing this issue within a two years deadline. If such a law had not been passed by then, same-sex couples would be automatically able to register their relationship with the same solemnity as heterosexual couples do through marriage.

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 lower house of the Congress of Colombia approved a historic same-sex union bill by a vote of 62-43, and President Álvaro Uribe was expected to sign the measure, which had been approved by the Colombian Senate 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 34-29 in the 102-member Senate. About 80 LGBT rights advocates held a demonstration outside Congress the following day, protesting the bill's defeat. Supporters vowed to revive the legislation.
The bill, which had been endorsed by conservative President Álvaro Uribe, would have made Colombia the first nation in Latin America to grant same-sex couples in long-term relationships the same rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security as heterosexual couples.
On 17 March 2015, Senator Armando Benedetti introduced a civil union bill. The bill failed as it was not debated in time. It was re-introduced by Senator Roy Barreras on 30 July 2015. On the same day, senators Benedetti and Barreras introduced a bill allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.

Same-sex marriage

Legislative proposals

In 2011, after the Constitutional Court ruling, four bills were announced in Congress to correct the disadvantage of same-sex couples, two bills used the word "marriage", two of them would create 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 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, Bolivia and Haiti".
Days before the vote, Superintendent Jorge Enrique Vélez announced that if the Congress failed to pass the same-sex marriage bill before the 20 June deadline, the Minister of Justice would prepare guidelines for notaries and judges to conduct "solemn contracts" for same-sex couples. On 18 April 2013, the country's Notaries Association presented their 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 people not to engage in those contracts because, they said, the framework for a "marital contract" did not exist in the country's laws. In the following days, several couples made petitions to judges to have their relationships recognized through marriage.
On 24 July 2013, a civil court judge in Bogotá declared a male same-sex couple legally married, after a ruling on 11 July 2013 accepting the petition. This was the first same-sex couple married in Colombia.
In September 2013, two civil court 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 once again went before the Constitutional Court after the country's Inspector General 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 happened 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.

Recognition of same-sex marriages performed overseas

In May 2015, Colombian Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo announced the Colombian 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 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.

Constitutional Court ruling

In March 2016, a draft of a ruling, considered to be a minority opinion of the Constitutional Court, 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. 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. 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 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 April 2016 ruling. The ruling was officially published on 7 July 2016.
Presiding Judge Maria Victoria Calle told the court; "all people are free to choose independently to start a family in keeping with their sexual orientation... 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 in the country following the ruling happened in Cali on 24 May 2016.
On 12 July 2016, the Constitutional Court rejected a challenge to the ruling filed by a conservative group opposed to same-sex marriage. In January 2017, the Constitutional Court rejected an appeal filed by former Attorney General Alejandro Ordóñez to nullify the ruling.

Statistics

In Colombia, civil marriages are performed by notaries and judges. Every marriage performed in Colombia has to be registered with the Registraduría Nacional de Colombia.
According to the Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro, notaries performed 138 same-sex marriages in 2016, 341 in 2017 and 316 in 2018, with Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Valle del Cauca and Risaralda departments recording the most marriages. 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.
In December 2019, Bogotá Mayor Claudia López Hernández 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 Colombia's capital, 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 poll taken 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, 64% were opposed.
A Gallup national 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 in Colombia, reached 50%, with 47% opposing. As for same-sex adoption, acceptance was at 36% and opposition at 62%.