Colombian Court Rules for Marriage Equality

Colombia must extend marriage rights to same-sex couples within two years, the nation’s Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday.

The Colombian Congress must create an equivalent of marriage for gay couples by June 20, 2013, or else couples will automatically gain the right to go to any judge or notary public to formalize their union, according to the ruling. The country already offers civil unions, which grant almost all marriage rights.

The decision came in a case brought by the gay rights group Colombia Diversa, the legal aid group DeJusticia, and other organizations and citizens to challenge the nation’s law defining marriage as an exclusive contract between a man and a woman with the purpose of procreation.

“This is an historic decision for equality in Colombia,” Colombia Diversa executive director Marcela Sánchez said in a statement. Colombia Diversa had joined other organizations in bringing an earlier suit that resulted in civil union rights for gay couples in 2007. She held out little hope, however, for action from the Congress, which has considered and defeated six bills for marriage equality.