Several thousand people marched through
the streets of Santiago, Chile on Saturday to demand marriage
equality.
Demonstrators marched from the Plaza
Italia to the presidential palace at La Moneda.
Luis Larrain, president of the Equal
Foundation, told Reuters “[w]e are here to demand respect for
our identity, for our rights, for our families and for our bodies,
which still hasn't happened here in Chile.”
“We feel that we are behind. Our
neighbors, including Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, already have
marriage equality. We are only now discussing a law for civil
unions. We are very behind and we need political authorities to get
up to date.”
A civil unions bill, known as the Life
Partner Agreement, is currently before the Chamber of Deputies after
clearing the Senate earlier this month.
(Related: Chilean
Senate approves civil unions bill.)
Demonstrators also called for greater
rights for transgender people, Telesur
reported.
“We are marching today on October 18
so trans identities will not be considered pathological,” said
transgender protester Franco Fuica. “As transsexual people, we are
categorized as mentally ill for being who we are.”