CHILE: 50K March For Marriage Equality

An estimated crowd of more than 50,000 turned out yesterday in Santiago for a march in support of marriage equality in Chile. 

The march, organised by by the Movement of Integration and Sexual Liberation (MOVILH) and the Movement for Sexual Diversity (Mums), ended at the presidential palace of La Moneda, with speeches from various activists and political leaders. ​The demonstrators urged the government to implement the Gender Identity Bill, currently being debated in the Senate. They also recalled the murders of five people in 2014 because of their sexual orientation with a short ceremony during the march. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed a bill into law recognising civil unions between same-sex couples on 13 April, while another piece of legislation on gay marriage. The LGBT movement in Chile has made great advances in recent years, they now are protected by anti-discrimination laws covering employment, gay people also can serve openly in the Army, gay men are allowed to donate blood and lesbian couples can have access to in-vitro fertilisation treatments.

RELATED: Last month MOVILH was sued by Opus Dei over their ownership of the URL OpusGay.cl.