(3 Apr 2013) SHOTLIST
1. Pan of Uruguay Senate building where senate vote on the legalisation of gay marriage took place
2. Wide interior of Senate ahead of vote
3. Various of people seated in the public gallery
4. Various of senators
5. Mid of people seated in the public gallery
6. Wide of Senate floor as start of vote is announced, UPSOUND (Spanish) "Passing to the general voting on the bill"
7. Various of senators speaking their assent or rejection of the law
8. Wide of Senate floor as results announced UPSOUND (Spanish) "23 senators have voted in favour of the law and 8 voted against." ++UPSOUND CONTINUES OVER SHOT 9++
9. Close up of clock showing time and date senate passed law
10. Wide of Senate floor
11. Wide of Senate building
12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Marcela Pilim, transgender person attending the vote in the senate:
"It's a social reality that (homosexual) couples have children, raise children, where there are second and third generations of homosexual couples with children. It's not about whether society is ready, for sure society is ready, they're already doing it in practice, in daily life, day to day."
13. Pan of Senate building
STORYLINE
Uruguay's Senate on Tuesday voted to legalise gay marriage by approving a single law governing matrimony for heterosexuals and homosexuals.
Senators voted 23-8 in favour of the bill, which was passed by the lower house in December. It must now return to the lower chamber of Congress with changes.
If approved, the law would make Uruguay the second nation in Latin America and the 12th in the world to legalise gay marriage.
Argentina legalised same-sex marriage in 2010.
The bill lets couples, gay or straight, decide whose surname goes first when they name their children.
It also clarifies rules for adoption and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), and eliminates the words "husband and wife" in marriage contracts, referring instead to the gender-neutral "contracting parties".
Speaking outside the parliament Marcela Pilim, a transgender person, said that it was about time the law reflected society.
"It's a social reality that (homosexual) couples have children, raise children, where there are second and third generations of homosexual couples with children," said Pilim.
"It's not about whether society is ready, for sure society is ready, they're already doing it in practice, in daily life, day to day," Pilim added.
The Roman Catholic Church opposes the proposal, but the church has little political influence in secular Uruguay, which became the first Latin American country to legalise abortion last year.
President Jose Mujica has been pushing for liberal-leaning proposals in his mandate and says he plans to sign the marriage bill into law.
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