The Panama National Assembly in Panama City (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
PANAMA CITY Activists in Panama have urged the country’s president to remove two provisions of a bill that would prevent same-sex couples from adopting children.
The
Panamanian National Assembly on March 3 approved Bill 120, which would reform
the country’s adoption system.
Article 22
of the bill states a man and a woman “united in marriage or a common law
marriage for a minimum of two years” can adopt a child. La Prensa, a
Panamanian newspaper, notes
Article 26 of the bill would allow joint adoptions “when the people are spouses
Top American human rights court weighs religious freedom case christianpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from christianpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In
Pavez v. Chile, a Catholic diocese in San Bernardo, Chile discovered that Sandra Pavez, who taught religion classes at Cardenal Antonio Samoré Municipal School, had entered into a same-sex relationship.
While she was allowed to maintain employment with the school, even rising to leadership ranks, the school informed her in July 2007 that it could not certify her to teach those classes. Pavez took the school to court and claimed discrimination.
The Chilean Supreme Court sided with the school in 2008, holding that the church-based school has the right to certify its teachers as they see fit.
Pavez claimed a violation of the American Convention on Human Rights and took the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The commission presented Pavez’s case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2019.