It's not so odd to find a gay pride parade in a major city these days. What is odd is to have a conservative politician getting praise from a transsexual in a Wonder Woman costume.

But in Colombia, where Catholicism still reigns and a conservative president is serving an unprecedented second term, gay men and lesbians are closer to getting national legal rights than in any other Latin American nation.

Earlier this year, the country's Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples should have the same rights to shared assets as heterosexual couples, a decision that even the Catholic Church supported.

And last month, pushed by a strange coalition of conservative and leftist congressmen, legislation giving gay unions the same social security, health and inheritance benefits as heterosexual couples passed the House and the Senate -- only to have a few opponents temporarily stall the bill when the two chambers tried to reconcile the language.

That legislation, which also has conservative President Alvaro Uribe's support, is expected to pass in the coming months, despite a tepid resistance by the Catholic Church.

''This is a conservative country, but it's not a moralist country,'' said Virgilio Barco, the son of a former Colombian president with the same name and who is also gay and a leading organizer for the group Diverse Colombia

Latin America has long experienced discrimination and violence against gay people. But a recent surge in gay-rights organizations has led to landmark legislation: Governments of Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil have passed laws allowing gay civil unions.

Colombia, however, is the first to inch toward making gay rights national law.