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moment in which equal rights for homosexuals were achieved. Given this context, it is important to point out that there
are some countries in the Eastern world
that have focuses their attention on acknowledging the LGBTQ community
regarding two important institutions:
marriage and adoption. Just as in many
other countries, this effort that seeks to
acknowledge homoparental families in
Colombia has caught on. ‘Homoparental
families’ is what same-sexed, legal unions that have gone on to have one or
more children are usually called. Some
sectors of Colombian society have catalogued this phenomenon as ‘ the silent
revolution.’ Recent pronouncements by
the Government, Congress, Constitutional Court, and Colombian Attorney
General’s office about the possibility of
allowing the use of medical marihuana,
and of almost entirely legalizing both
euthanasia and abortion, reveal the liberal thinking that has been guiding the
State’s actions. These changes are considered extremely impactful because
they broaden the range of guarantees for
the rights of Colombians. In this very
same context, the topic that is pushing
social progress in the country is the evolution of the rights of the LGBTQ population. In fewer than 30 years, Colombia
has gone from being a conservative society to being one in which individual
freedoms are beginning to overcome
prejudices, especially when it comes to
families and sexuality. For example, just
a few years ago that there would be two,
openly gay, female cabinet ministers, or
two of the most famous congressional

representatives, would have been unthinkable. Today, these women are their
demonstrating that sexual tendencies
create no limit whatsoever on their ability to do an honorable job. Slowly, Colombia has been opening up its closet’s
door, as we saw in November 2015,
when the Constitutional Court approved
unrestricted adoption for same-sexed
couples. The vote was six to two. The
judicial guardian of the Political Constitution (1991) thus determined that sexual
identity was not the cause of any lack of
moral character, or physical or mental
deficiency, and the it could not be used
to define if someone could adopt or not.
Thus, a gay or lesbian person cannot be
excluded from adoption possibilities or
proceedings simple because they are
one. For scientific support, the American
Psychological Association, with around
150,000 members all over the world,
acknowledged in it study “Sexual Orientation, Parent, and Children” (2007) that
homosexual mothers and fathers are just
as capable as heterosexual ones of
providing a healthy environment and
support. Regardless the sexual orientation, people can be either mothers or
fathers and form a family. This is another victory in the many struggles carried
out by LGBTQ movements in Colombia
for decades. The early ones, in which
they demanded rights, often ended in
defeat. Work, patience, and dedication
have been the weapons these groups
have employed to strengthen the defense
of their rights, and today achieve the
guarantees the Colombian legal order
offer homosexual couples, acknowledg-

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