Colombia

Colombia Reports: The Colombian Constitutional Court clarified that same-sex couple adoption is still prohibited, following the ruling of an Antioquian court that granted joint maternal custody to a lesbian couple.

The Court announced that the ruling by the Antioquian court was unconstitutional. The lesbian couple case had sought to overturn a law prohibiting same-sex couple adoption.

Neal Broverman, from Advocate.com reports that - in a historic decision delivered Wednesday - Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled same-sex couples must be granted the same rights as heterosexuals in common-law marriages.

Costa Rican lawmakers proposed legalizing same-sex civil unions in a bill introduced on Tuesday, but said it may be difficult to pass the plan in the strongly Roman Catholic country.

Under the proposal, same-sex couples would be granted marital-type rights like bereavement leave, inheritance and power over medical decisions. It stops short of recognizing same-sex marriage or allowing adoption by same-sex couples.

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A landmark gay rights bill passed by Colombia's Congress last week was thrown out when a group of senators used a procedural vote to change their minds.

The bill, backed by President Alvaro Uribe but opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, would grant gay couples living together for more than two years the same social security and estate inheritance guarantees as heterosexuals in common-law marriages.

It would have been the first nationwide law of its kind in Latin America.

Colombia's Congress voted to recognize gay unions, approving a bill to give same-sex couples full rights to health insurance, social security and inheritance benefits. The measure would make Colombia the first country in Latin America to extend such rights to gay couples, a prospect celebrated by gay rights advocates from Buenos Aires to New York.