Uruguay OKs Gay Adoption

Uruguay reportedly became the first country in Latin America to allow gay adoption Sept. 9 when the Chamber of Senators passed a bill that previously had passed the Chamber of Deputies.

President Tabaré Vázquez indicated he will sign the bill into law.

Questions have been raised, however, about a confusing provision in the bill that requires children’s full names to include both their mother’s and father’s last names.

Uruguay also has a national civil-union law for same-sex couples and lets open gays serve in the military.

The civil-union law requires that couples have lived together for five years before they can take advantage of it, and grants spousal rights in areas that include inheritance, property ownership, pensions, parenting and health care.

The couple must “maintain an emotional relationship of a sexual nature (and) an exclusive, singular, stable and permanent character.”

Other Latin American localities with civil-union laws include the city of Buenos Aires, the Argentine province of Río Negro, the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, Mexico City, and the Mexican state of Coahuila, which borders Texas.

By Rex Wockner