Karen Atala

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Karen Atala Riffo (b. 1963) is a Chilean lesbian, lawyer, judge, and mother of three girls. In 2005, she moved in with her female partner in Santiago. Her ex-husband took offense to this, although he has admitted doing so only for the purposes of revenge. He took it to the courts since their children would be residing with his ex-wife's partner.

The courts agreed that it was best for the father to maintain complete custody due to the mother's "perversions". Atala Riffo continually appealed until reaching the Supreme Court which ruled on the basis that, "[the children] would suffer psychological harm living with Ms. Atala and her partner...[and that] they would become confused about gender roles and suffer from discrimination and isolation."[1] The court then nullified all her rights as a mother and gave permanent and total custody to the girl's father forever.

This case caused the Chilean Supreme Court to be accused of human rights violations and caused and international uproar in the gay community, especially in normally liberal-minded Chile which has been under Socialist rule for seven years, and partially since 1992 as part of the ruling coalition still in power since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship.

As of 2005, Atala has exhausted all her legal options within Chile; consequently, she has taken her case to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission in Washington, DC. Several groups have united to represent and advocate for Atala. These are: NCLR, the New York City Bar Association, Human Rights Watch, International and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic at the City University of New York, Lawyers for Children, Inc., Legal Aid Society of New York, and Legal Momentum[2] which filed an amicus brief in support of Atala before the commission. This brief is still pending.