Bolivia reassures church same-sex marriage still unlawful

Bolivian lawmakers on Thursday reassured the country's Catholic Church that same-sex marriage was not legalized in the Gender Identity Law that they approved in May.

The National Assembly sent a letter to Monsignor Ricardo Centellas, president of the Bolivian Conference of Bishops, explaining that the law allows those who have had sex change operations to also change their name and gender on legal documents but it does not legalize same-sex marriage.

Jose Alberto Gonzales, president of the Bolivian Senate, and Edgar Montano, a deputy of the ruling socialist MAS party, took pains to clear up the confusion sparked by the new law.

According to Gonzales, to allow same-sex marriage would require a constitutional amendment through a referendum.

"In legal terms ... this law does not affect the rest of the citizenry, it does not affect the rest of society," said Gonzales, stressing it was designed exclusively to recognize the right of the transsexuals to have their new gender accurately reflected in their national identity cards, passports and other documents.

"It is clear that this law does not make same-sex marriage possible," he added.

The confusion was fueled partly by Alberto Moscoso, representative of the Bolivian Coalition of LGBT Collectives, who interpreted the law as allowing transsexual and transgender people to marry someone of their own sex once they had changed their paperwork, and was touting the law, which took effect on Monday. Endi