(12 May 2013) SHOTLIST
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
1. Wide of crowds marching in support of gay rights
2. Various of people marching
3. Amnesty International banner reading (Spanish) "Marry against homophobia"
4. Activist collecting signature in support of gay marriage
5. Close up of activist signing petition
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Patricia Araneda, gay rights supporter:
"There has always been prejudice in society and that has to stop because if people are free, we are entitled to do whatever we want, people are free to love whomever they want."
7. Various of people marching
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rolando Jimenez, president of MOVILH, Chile's Gay Liberation and Integration Movement:
"We demand that once and for all our political class recognise the equal rights and dignity of people who have a different sexual orientation or gender identity."
9. Two men walking in march and kissing
10. More of march
STORYLINE
Thousands of gay rights supporters marched through the streets of Chile's capital Santiago on Saturday in early celebrations to mark the international day against homophobia.
Activists from Amnesty International also collected signatures to petition for the legalisation of same sex marriage in Chile.
The signatures will be included in a formal letter that Amnesty plans to send to all the presidential candidates asking them to include a gay marriage agenda in their campaign platform.
National elections will be held on 17 November 2013.
Chile's government only recognises marriage between a man and a woman.
"We demand that once and for all our political class recognise the equal rights and dignity of people who have a different sexual orientation or gender identity," said Rolando Jimenez, leader of MOVILH, Chile's Gay Liberation and Integration Movement.
In 2011, current president Sebastian Pinera, a conservative, proposed civil union legislation that would give unmarried partners many of the rights that married couples have.
Two years later, the bill remains under consideration in congress.
If the bill is approved as written by both houses of congress, then couples who sign "agreements to life as a couple" before a notary or at the civil registry would be able to resolve legal problems with inheritances, social welfare issues and health care benefits.
In April, Uruguay passed legislation to legalise gay marriage making it the third country in the Americas after Canada and Argentina to eliminate laws making marriage, adoption and other family rights exclusive to heterosexuals.
The day against homophobia itself falls on May 17.
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