Deputies from the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) and the Party for Democracy (PPD) presented a bill that aims to prohibit the adoption of children by same-sex couples. Chile's gay movement has already declared that it will act against the ban.
The text proposes changes to article 20 of Law No. 19.620, which deals with adoption. The parliamentarians' idea is to change the old text and make it clear that only opposite-sex couples can adopt. Deputies claim that the law avoids "future interpretations". The debate about adoption arises precisely at the moment when the Chilean parliament begins to discuss civil unions for homosexual couples.
"What must be avoided with this law is homoparental adoption, preventing a child from being adopted and raised by a same-sex couple", says the introduction of the text. The initiative has the support of a large part of the conservative bench, which is also part of the base of President Piñera's government.
The Chilean Homosexual Integration and Liberation Movement (Movilh) repudiated the project and classified it as "homophobic". For the gay movement in Chile, the text "prevents any future possibility of same-sex couples forming a family."
