Colombia legalizes same-sex marriage News
Colombia legalizes same-sex marriage

The Constitutional Court of Colombia [official website, in Spanish] on Thursday legalized same-sex marriage. In a 6-3 decision [El Tiempo report, in Spanish], the court found that same-sex marriage does not violate the country’s constitution [text]. The decision comes just weeks after the court dismissed a petition for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Under the ruling, state officials must allow same-sex couples to marry, and about 70 unions previously registered as civil partnerships will now automatically be converted to marriages [AFP report].

Thursday’s ruling makes Colombia the fourth country to legalize same-sex marriage. Argentina became the first in 2010, followed by Uruguay and Brazil [JURIST reports] in 2013. Same-sex marriage is also legal in much of Mexico, and the country’s top court has ruled that state same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional [JURIST report]. Colombia’s Constitutional Court had ruled in November that same-sex couples may legally adopt children [JURIST report].

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.