quote:

---

Uruguay's Congress has legalised civil unions for homosexual couples in the first nationwide law of its kind in Latin America.

Under the new law, gay and straight couples will be eligible to form civil unions after living together for five years. They will have rights similar to those granted to married couples on such matters as inheritance, pensions and child custody.

---

I'm not sure about the five-year bit...it may simply mean that a common law gay partner gets to sue for support, pensions or custody as a hetero partner would.