Same-sex marriage in Chile
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Same-sex marriage has been legal in Chile since 10 March 2022.[1][2] In June 2021, President Sebastián Piñera announced that his government would sponsor a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.[3][4] The Senate of Chile passed the legislation on 21 July 2021, and the Chamber of Deputies gave its approval on 23 November 2021. Disagreements on some aspects of the bill led to the formation of a mixed commission to discuss it. Both chambers of the National Congress approved an identical version of the bill on 7 December 2021.[5][6] President Piñera signed the legislation into law on 9 December,[7] and it was published in the Diario Oficial de la República de Chile on 10 December. The law took effect 90 days later, with the first same-sex marriages taking place on 10 March 2022.[8] Chile was the sixth country in South America and the 29th in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry.[9]
Chile had previously recognized same-sex couples in the form of civil unions only. Civil unions, known as acuerdo de unión civil (AUC) in Spanish, are offered to all couples regardless of sexual orientation, providing some, but not all, of the rights of marriage. The first civil unions were registered on 22 October 2015.