Share

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Facebook Tweet Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp Share on WhatsApp

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER

After approving the New Adoption Law in June, the Chilean Chamber of Deputies has now included all categories protected from discrimination by the “Zamudio Law”: in this way, it is established that neither sexual orientation nor gender identity can be an obstacle.

The Family and Senior Citizen Commission decided this by a vote of seven of its eleven members in favor: Natalia Castillo, Pamela Jiles, René Saffirio, Raúl Soto, Sebastián Keitel, Carola Marzán, Luis Rocaffull López; while the deputies Francesca Muñoz, Gustavo Sanhueza and Miguel Mellado voted against it.

Rolando Jiménez, leader of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh), who personally followed all the sessions of the law's processing, celebrated this: “We receive these results with great satisfaction and joy, as they imply that in the procedures to opt for adoption, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people, among many other sectors, cannot be discriminated against or excluded because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

For his part, Juan Enrique Pi, executive president of Fundación Iguales, said: “The Family Commission understood the importance of correcting the government’s flawed approach to adoption, and has proposed that all available families be evaluated under equal conditions, thus ensuring that every child finds the most suitable family in which to thrive. That is putting children first.”

READ ALSO #Chile Deputies approved gender identity law: it's law

The newly enacted Adoption Law incorporated same-sex and lesbian-parent adoption last June with an article establishing that children can be raised within a family, “whatever its composition.” Then, in September, the same Commission clarified that step-parent adoption was permitted for “couples of the same and different sexes, whether in de facto relationships or civil unions.” Now, it has protected the initiative under the Anti-Discrimination Law, popularly known as the “Zamudio Law.”

READ ALSO Five years since the attack on Daniel Zamudio, murdered for being gay

The new article reassures that the adoption process will not be biased or discriminatory based on the composition of the adoptive couple and puts the best interests of the child at the center. “This means that more possibilities are opened up for children to find and access the best family and, of course, there will no longer be room for orders of priority,” Jiménez added to Presentes.

Evangelicals' failed attempt

In November, two attempts by evangelical members of parliament to include a homophobic article in the adoption law failed. According to Movilh, Representatives Eduardo Durán (RN) and Francesca Muñoz (RN) sought to include a “homophobic and discriminatory article” in the adoption law reform to limit equal opportunities for people to adopt.

The article they wanted to include is Article 365 of the Penal Code. “It’s an article that establishes a different age of sexual consent for gays and heterosexuals, based solely on prejudice. Furthermore, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has been asking Chile to repeal this law since 2007, while the State has committed itself to the United Nations and the OAS to take that step,” Jiménez explained at the time.