Same-sex marriage 2010 upon promulgation by the Argentine President. Argentina thus became the first country in Latin America, the second in the Americas, and the tenth in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Australia became the second nation in Oceania to legalise same-sex marriage when the Australian Parliament passed a bill on 7 December 2017. The bill received royal assent on 8 December, and took effect on 9 December 2017. The law removed the ban on same-sex marriage which previously existed and followed a voluntary postal survey held from 12 September to 7 November 2017, which returned a 61.6% "Yes" vote for
Recognition of same-sex unions in Chile Inter-American Commission of Human Rights signed a friendly agreement, wherein the Government pledged to legalise same-sex marriage. A bill to this effect was introduced to the National Congress in August 2017, but failed to pass before March 2018, when a new Government was inaugurated. This agreement and a January 2018 ruling by the IACHR, stating that countries signatory to the American Convention on Human Rights must legalise same-sex marriage, have put pressure on the new Government to legalise same-sex marriage. During January 2006's presidential campaign both President Michelle Bachelet and center-right candidate Sebastián Piñera voiced their support for civil unions,