Opponents needed 665,000 votes on the consultation ballot (25% of registered voters) to force the referendum. But Uruguay’s Electoral Council reported that only 8.65% (226,653) of voters participated in the ballot in late June.
"Many of us Uruguayans were born into a country where being gay, lesbian, and transgender was the equivalent of being sick, immoral, or even a disgrace for the family and for the society," a native homosexual group noted.
The Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies overwhelmingly voted last week to approve a bill that would make "marriage" a legal right for any permutation of two people.