On Oct. 12, the Senate in Uruguay unanimously passed a bill permitting transsexuals to change their names and genders on all official documents, including birth certificates. President Tabare Vasquez is expected to sign the bill into law shortly.
In August, Uruguay became the first country in the Americas to allow same-sex couples to adopt. In 2008, civil unions were legalized.
Each of these measures has passed in the face of opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, which, as a result of centuries of European colonialism, has enjoyed substantial political influence in Latin America.
In order to garner support, the original bill was subjected to an amendment emphatically stating that it is not a legalization of same-sex marriage. It also included an amendment to restrict the rights to gender-identification to adults. Despite backwards provisions within the original bills, these advancements are gains toward LGBT equality.
