ARGENTINA PASSES PARTNERSHIP LAWS
The city council of Buenos Aires, Argentina, passed a civil-unions law Dec. 13 by a vote of 29 to 10.
Registered opposite-sex and same-sex couples will be treated like spouses 'in the exercise of rights, obligations and benefits that emanate from the city,' including in such areas as pensions, insurance, loans, visitation rights, sick leave, bereavement leave and relocation expenses.
'Buenos Aires has become the first city in Latin America to pass such a law and we hope it is only a first step,' said city councilor Roque Bellomo.
To register, a couple must have been in a 'stable, public relationship of affectivity' for at least two years ( unless they have had children together ) and must have lived in Buenos Aires for two years.
On Dec. 17, the legislature of the Argentine province of Río Negro passed a gay partnership law. It grants same-sex couples all the provincial rights that common-law opposite-sex couples have, except for access to marriage and adoption.
To register, a gay couple must present two witnesses who can prove the couple has lived together for at least two years.
Rio Negro is in south-central Argentina, south of La Pampa province and southwest of Buenos Aires. Its capital city is Viedma. The province is best-known for growing apples and pears and exporting fruit juice and cider.
Rex Wockner
CHILEAN TRANSGENDERS PROTEST KILLINGS
Only one of 24 anti-transgender murders known to have been committed in Chile in the past two years has been solved by police, the transgender organization TravesChile and the gay group Unified Sexual Minorities Movement reported Dec. 12.
The organizations accused the police and the judicial system of inaction based on homophobia.