Chile has just introduced a new law that will make it easier for unmarried couples who live together to co-own property and make medical decisions for one another.

As reported in the BBC, government spokesman Marcelo Diaz said the law, which applies to both heterosexual and same-sex couples, would have been "unthinkable a few years ago."

Chilean couples will now be able to claim pension benefits and inherit property if one of the civil partners dies. The law makes it easier for one partner to receive custody of the partner's child in the case of death as well.

The so called “Law for All Families” was passed in January, and it is seen by Chilean activists as an important first step in the nation’s march towards legalizing same-sex marriages.

Government officials say that 1,600 couples had so far signed up to register their unions under the new law.

Gay marriage, which is legal in Argentina, Uruguay, and some parts of Mexico, is still illegal in Chile.

Speaking to the BBC back in 2012, the first year that the Chilean census allowed gays the option to declare that they lived in same-sex households, Pablo Simonetti, a novelist and gay rights activist, said that Chilean society was becoming more accepting of gays.

Simonetti, who noted that a decade earlier homosexuals often came out of the closet in their mid-20s, said, “These days, young people are coming out and talking to their parents about it. They have much more freedom than we did and much less fear."

Advocates of civil unions may take heart in the fact that the new law comes at a time when other issues, such as free education and tax reform, have been put on the back burner, as the socialist country experiences very rough economic times.

As quoted in The Guardian, President Michelle Bachelet said, “There is no question of giving up all hope of change, but we must accept reality."

She added, “We have fewer resources, and the ability of the state and our political system to achieve such far-reaching structural reforms, in so short a time, was undoubtedly overestimated.”