Colombia

LGBT rights in Colombia have progressed since consensual homosexual activity was decriminalized in 1980 with amendments to the Criminal Code. Between February 2007 and April 2008 three rulings of the Constitutional Court granted registered same-sex couples the same pension, social security and property rights as for registered heterosexual couples. On 28 April 2016, the Constitutional Court legalized same-sex marriage.

In August 2014, a student called Sergio Urrego committed suicide because he had suffered discrimination by the authorities of the school where he studied. The mother filed a lawsuit that after several appeals finally reached the Constitutional Court. The Court ruled in favour of Urrego's family, stating that the rights to dignity, education, equality, non-discrimination, the free development of personality, privacy and due process, justice, reparation and good name were violated. The Court also ordered the school to make a public act of forgiveness and ordered the Ministry of Education that within a year it review the "manuals of coexistence" (rules governing relationships between students themselves and others members of the educational community) of all schools in the country so that they do not contain articles that discriminate against children because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. With this decision, colleges across the country cannot discriminate against students because of their sexual orientation.

Legislation

Male to male relationships: Legal

Punishments for male to male relationships: No law

Female to female relationships: Legal

Age of consent: Equal for heterosexuals and homosexuals

Same sex marriage or civil union: Yes

Discrimination protection

NRHI inclusive of sexual orientation: Yes

Constitution protection: Yes

Employment protection: Yes

Hate crimes law: Yes

Incitement: Yes

Other protection: Yes

LGBT organizations/networks

It Gets Better Colombia: https://www.itgetsbettercolombia.org/

Colombia Diversa: http://colombiadiversa.org/

Red Somos: https://www.redsomos.org/

Cámara de Comerciantes LGBT de Colombia: http://web.cclgbt.co/index.html

Liberarte: https://www.liberarte.co/es/

Country Data

The country data was collected June-July 2012. Please note that reliable information is difficult to obtain for many countries on violations of LGBT people's human rights, the enforcement of legislation etc. Local LGBT organisations and networks are listed in the capacity of human rights defenders.

In many countries where male homosexual acts are criminalized, no laws exist on female-to-female relationships and so those are listed as "legal". However, this does not mean that women are not targeted by state and police persecution.

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Colombia

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