LGBT rights activist celebrate a Constitutional Court decision to give gay couples marriage rights, in front of the Justice Palace in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, April 7, 2016. Gay couples in Colombia are already allowed to form civil unions, but the court ruling by a 6-3 vote expands rights further by giving gay couples marriage rights as well. AP
BOGOTA, Colombia 鈥� Colombia鈥檚 highest court is paving the way for same-sex couples to marry in the conservative Roman Catholic nation.
Gay couples in Colombia were already allowed to form civil unions, with many benefits of marriage including inheritance, pensions and health benefits. But the symbolically important right to wed was something that so far has been denied.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court took a giant step in settling the controversy, rejecting by a 6-3 vote a justice鈥檚 opinion that would have prevented public notaries from registering the unions as marriages. In the coming weeks, a new ruling reflecting the majority opinion that such practice is discriminatory is expected to be approved, legalizing same-sex marriage.
鈥淟ove triumphed,鈥� said 25-year-old David Alonso, one of a few dozen LGBTI activists who gathered outside the court to celebrate the ruling. 鈥淭his is a historical debt that is finally being settled.鈥�
Only a handful of nations in Latin America allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, including Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
Colombia鈥檚 progressive court had already shown its willingness to expand the rights of same-sex couples when it ruled last year that gay couples can adopt children. In 2011, it also ordered congress to design rules to record civil unions between same-sex couples in a way that ensured they weren鈥檛 discriminated against.
READ: First same-sex civil union legalized in Colombia
When congress failed to act, many public notaries began registering the civil unions as marriages while some rejected the term outright, giving rise to the dispute now at the court.
President Juan Manuel Santos鈥� government supported activists in reaffirming the right to marry, taking on opposition from the powerful Catholic church and the country鈥檚 independent Inspector General.
Congresswoman Angelica Lozano said that with the legal dispute near resolution Colombia鈥檚 gay community must now focus on ending discrimination.
鈥淭oday we鈥檝e won our constitutional rights, now we need to fight on the streets and inside people鈥檚 homes,鈥� she said.