COLOMBIA: Constitutional Court Grants Limited Adoption Rights To Gay Couples

Progress in Colombia:

The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that a lesbian woman,could adopt her long-time partner's daughter, since the child in question was the biological child of one of the two partners. The court said Ana Leiderman, who underwent artificial insemination to conceive her daughter, and raised her with Veronica Botero, had the right to request an adoption by her partner regardless of sex. The Colombian Family Well-being Institute had earlier rejected Botero's adoption application. "The court considered that the discriminatory criterion the administrative authority had used to deny the adoption procedure ... was unacceptable in this case, which involves a consensual adoption in which the biological father or mother consents to an adoption by his or her permanent partner," magistrate Luis Ernesto Vargas said. However, the ruling does not not allow gay couples to adopt if neither person is the child's biological parent, and even couples covered by the ruling will have to meet certain conditions, such as having lived together for at least two years.

Local experts hope the ruling sets the stage for expanding adoption rights to all same-sex couples. (Tipped by JMG reader Steven)