Ecuadorian lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill that seeks to amend the country’s civil code and would allow for the legal recognition of civil unions in the South American country.

El Comercio, an Ecuadorian newspaper, reported the measure would allow LGBT couples to receive “the same rights and obligations of a marriage” in terms of pensions, purchasing a home together and other benefits. It would also eliminate the requirement that couples must wait two years before entering into a civil union and demonstrate that they had lived together during this period. The proposal would also apply to unmarried straight couples.

“It is a major achievement,” Diane Rodríguez, president of Silueta X Association, an Ecuadorian LGBT advocacy group, said after the vote. Read More