Colombia

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Colombia are among the most advanced in the Americas and throughout the world, and have substantially progressed since consensual homosexual activity was decriminalised in 1981. 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 registered heterosexual couples. In 2011, Congress passed a law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, and on 28 April 2016, the Constitutional Court legalised same-sex marriage, making Colombia the fourth South American country to do so.
== Constitution and Law ==
Article 13 of the Colombian Constitution of 1991 states that "the State will provide conditions for the equality to be real and effective, and will adopt measures in favour of marginalised or discriminated groups."
Article 42 of the Constitution states "the family is the basic nucleus of society. It is formed on the basis of natural or legal ties, by the free decision of a man and woman to contract matrimony or by their responsible resolve to comply with it".
Law reforms in the 1990s equalised the age of consent in Colombia at 14 for both homosexual and heterosexual sex. In 1998, the Constitutional Court ruled that public school teachers cannot be fired for revealing their sexual orientation, nor can private religious schools ban gay students from enrolling. In 1999, the same court unanimously ruled that the armed forces could not ban homosexuals and bisexuals from serving, being a violation of constitutional guarantees of "personal and family intimacy" and "the free development of one's personality."
Summary Table
Same-sex sexual activity legal 	\surd (Since 1981)
Equal age of consent (14) 	\surd
Anti-discrimination laws in all areas (employment, goods and services, etc.)	\surd (Since 2011)
Right to express affection in public 	\surd (Protected by a Constitutional Court ruling)
Same-sex marriages 	\surd (Since 2016)
Recognition of same-sex couples 	\surd (Since 2007)
Recognition of same-sex marriages from abroad 	\surd (Since 2016)
Stepchild adoption by same-sex couples 	\surd (Since 2014)
Joint adoption by same-sex couples 	\surd (Since 2015)
Adoption by single LGBT persons 	\surd (Since 2012)
Automatic parenthood for both spouses after birth 	\surd (Since 2015)
LGB people allowed to serve openly in the military 	\surd (Since 1999)
Transgender people allowed to serve openly in the military 	\surd (Since 2015)
"Neutral" or blank space regarding gender on birth certificates 	\surd (Since 2015)
Right to change legal gender 	\surd
Right to change legal gender without psychiatric or physical evaluations 	\surd (Since 2015)
Conversion therapy banned on minors 	X
Access to IVF for lesbians 	\surd
Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples 	\surd
MSMs allowed to donate blood 	\surd (Since 2012)
== Colombian Queer Masterlist ==
=== Film ===
* The Firefly
== Gallery ==
			
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