President Michelle Bachelet has announced this week that a public discussion on same-sex marriage will take place in Chile.
Bachelet said the aim of the discussion is to produce a “satisfactory bill on marriage equality, recognising the same rights for everyone".
The president said that the official recognition of same-sex marriage was “not only a demand of the international justice system but a legitimate demand of Chilean society.”
Bachelet made a promise last year during a United Nations General Assembly on LGBT rights to send a bill to legalise gay marriage to Congress.
"My government has committed to submit to Congress a bill on marriage equality during the first half of 2017," she said.
If Chile legalised same-sex marriage, it would be the fifth country to do so in South America, joining Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay.
