Same-sex marriage in Chile

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Chile since 10 March 2022. This important change began when President Sebastián Piñera said his government would support a bill to allow it. The Chilean Senate approved the bill on 21 July 2021, and the Chamber of Deputies followed on 23 November 2021. After some disagreements, both groups worked together and approved a final version on 7 December 2021. President Piñera signed the law on 9 December, and it was officially announced on 10 December. The law began working 90 days later, and the first same-sex marriages happened on 10 March 2022.

Before this, Chile allowed same-sex couples to join in civil unions, called acuerdo de unión civil (AUC) in Spanish. These unions gave some marriage rights but not all. The first civil unions were registered on 22 October 2015. Chile became the sixth country in South America, the seventh in Latin America, and the 29th in the world to allow same-sex marriage.

Civil unions

Bachelet's first presidency

During the January 2006 presidential campaign, both main candidates, Michelle Bachelet and Sebastián Piñera, said they supported civil unions. However, the Catholic Church and many members of the National Congress were against it. A bill for civil unions was introduced in October 2009 but did not pass.

Activists in Valdivia campaigning for the legalization of same-sex civil unions, with a banner reading "We are families too", 2011

Piñera's first presidency

In 2009, Piñera promised to end unfair treatment based on who someone loves and even showed a same-sex couple in one of his campaign ads. In June 2010, a senator named Andrés Allamand suggested a bill called "Common Life Agreement" that would let both different-sex and same-sex couples have similar rights. Another senator, Fulvio Rossi, introduced a bill to allow same-sex marriage in August 2010. But later, some senators changed their minds after talking with members of the Evangelical Church and decided to support the civil union idea instead.

In May 2011, President Piñera said he supported a new bill to allow a type of civil union. He sent a bill to Congress in August 2011 that would let unmarried couples, including same-sex couples, register their partnership. This would give them rights like inheriting and getting certain benefits. The Senate approved the bill in January 2014, but it didn’t get voted on in the Chamber of Deputies before the end of the parliamentary session in March 2014.

President Michelle Bachelet promulgating the civil union law, 13 April 2015

Bachelet's second presidency

When Michelle Bachelet became president again in March 2014, making Piñera’s civil union bill a priority. The Senate approved the bill in October 2014, and it was changed to be called "Civil Union Pact." After some changes and votes in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the bill was finally passed on January 28, 2015. The Constitutional Court checked if the bill was okay, and it was signed into law by President Bachelet on April 13, 2015. The law started on October 22, 2015.

Chile’s civil unions let couples get pension benefits, inherit property, and make medical decisions for each other, but they cannot adopt. Around two million couples could have their relationships recognized. By the first day, about 1,600 couples had signed up. The first same-sex civil union on Easter Island happened in November 2015. In December 2016, the Chamber of Deputies agreed to give civil partners five days of time off, like newly married couples. The Senate agreed in October 2017, and it became law on November 8, 2017.

Statistics

From 2015 to 2019, 31,098 couples entered into civil unions, and about 21% of them were same-sex couples. Most civil unions happened in the Santiago Metropolitan Region.

Number of civil unions registered in Chile
Year	Same-sex unions			Opposite-sex unions	Total unions	% same-sex
Year	Female	Male	Total	Opposite-sex unions	Total unions	% same-sex
2015	274	357	631	1,566	2,197	28.72%
2016	744	854	1,598	5,676	7,274	21.97%
2017	662	613	1,275	4,947	6,222	20.49%
2018	740	743	1,483	5,773	7,256	20.44%
2019	851	743	1,594	6,555	8,149	19.56%
2020	583	529	1,112	4,216	5,328	20.87%
2021	989	814	1,803	6,858	8,661	20.82%
2022	545	464	1,009	7,908	8,917	11.32%
2023	538	493	1,031	10,714	11,745	8.78%

Same-sex marriage

The first efforts to allow same-sex marriage in Chile began in the early 2010s when courts examined the issue. In 2011, the Constitutional Court of Chile decided that the law banning same-sex marriage was allowed. In 2012, a legal case was brought to an international court, claiming that the ban broke human rights rules.

In 2013, a leader named Michelle Bachelet said she would support same-sex marriage if she became leader of Chile. She was elected in 2013 and began working on it. In 2015, the government agreed to stop fighting for the ban.

In 2021, the leader of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, said his government would support a law for same-sex marriage. The Senate approved it in July 2021, and the rest of the government approved it in November 2021. The law officially started on March 10, 2022. The first same-sex marriage in Chile happened that day in Santiago.

Since the law began, many couples have married. By June 2024, over 6,000 same-sex couples had married in Chile.

Some religious groups support same-sex relationships, while others do not. The Catholic Church does not allow same-sex marriages.

Public opinion

In 2009, a survey showed that only 33% of people in Chile supported allowing same-sex couples to marry, but support was much higher among younger people. By 2022, support for same-sex marriage had grown to 82%, with 70% also supporting adoption rights for same-sex couples. Younger people and those with more education were more likely to support same-sex marriage throughout these years.

The views of Chilean eighth graders also showed strong support, with 79% in favor in 2018, the highest among five Latin American countries studied.