A judge in Colombia on Thursday cleared
the way for two men to legally marry.
In her five page ruling, Carmen Lucia
Rodriguez Diaz, a civil judge, “defended the viability of marriage
for gay couples,” according to Caracol
Radio.
The couple – identified as Diego and
Juan – are expected to enter a civil marriage on July 24.
Gay couples in Colombia turned to the
courts after lawmakers failed to meet a June 20 deadline imposed by
the nation's Constitutional Court.
In 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled
that gay couples had a right to a family and ordered Congress to
remedy the situation. The court said that if a law is not approved
by June 20, 2013, then “gay couples can go to a notary and with the
same solemnity of a heterosexual marriage enter a union similar to
one between a heterosexual couple.”
A marriage bill died in the Colombia
Senate in April after a heated debate.
Despite the failure to approve
legislation, opponents insisted that the court's order did not
guarantee marriage for gay couples. Some notaries told couples that
they could enter a “solemn union.” Gay weekly the Washington
Blade described this as a contract “similar to an agreement
into which two people enter when they buy a house together.”