Santiago, Chile, Jan 31, 2006 / 22:00 pm
A Socialist party senator in Chile said this week the country’s newly elected government led by President Michelle Bachelet plans to include the legalization of civil unions for heterosexuals and homosexuals, as well as the possibility of decriminalizing abortion, in its agenda.
During an interview with the Chilean daily La Segunda, Senator Carlos Ominami said, “Before January 15 we had to make a big effort to retrain ourselves, but now I can say things that I was not able to before.”
According to Ominami, “Now that the results of the election have been made known, a breath of fresh air is blowing through the country. And this is related to a key word mentioned by the President-elect: freedom. Freedom to make her own decisions, but that freedom should also belong to everyone to express their feelings, grievances and aspirations.”
A former Minister of Economy, Senator Ominami continued: “Now I can say things I wasn’t able to before, for example, that there is a need for homosexuals to have way to resolve their future problems, such as questions of inheritance or civil unions. Or that to me it is a monstrosity that, and I speak only for myself, in Chile we don’t allow therapeutic abortion. But all of this could have been addressed during the campaign,” he added.
Although Ominami acknowledged that his party is “part of a coalition” and that the socialists cannot impose their point of view on the country, he insisted that they would “seek to create a sort of civil union, similar to the French approach, where the problems of inheritance and social security are resolved under that approach and you don’t have to get married. But it must be an approach for both heterosexuals and homosexuals.”