Costa Rica is the first Central American country to legalize same-sex marriage

The first same-sex marriages have taken in Costa Rica after a ruling of the landmark court came into force at midnight. While activists plans for a national celebration because of the Crown pandemic had to be postponed, a television program late in the evening culminated in the wedding ceremony of Alexandra Araya Quiros and Dunia. Since kissed brides, guests clapped and threw rose petals this rainbow. In 2018, Costa Rica, the Constitutional Court ruled that the prohibition of marriage between persons of the same sex was unconstitutional and discriminatory to the detriment of the country’s parliament 18 months, to legislate or make the ban is automatically overwritten. Monday night that marked the deadline, and the move was welcomed by activists for human rights in the region. “Empathy and love should henceforth the guiding principles that can move forward,” Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada tweeted shortly after midnight verdict has come into force. Quesada, who took office in May 2018, had promised to legalize same-sex marriage advertised; Costa Rica 2018 election was the first openly gay MP in the country, Enrique Sanchez, together. Despite resistance from religious groups and a handful of legislators, Costa Rica was the first country in Central America to legalize gay marriage and the sixth in Latin America. But even if the law has moved in recent years to allow gay couples to marry in Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, and parts of Mexico, the LGBTQ community remains widespread discrimination and violence in the region. From 2014-2019, at least 1,300 people were murdered LGBTQ Latin America and the Caribbean, according to research carried out last year by a regional network of groups for gay rights. Costa Rica is now also sees the 28th member of the United Nations-sex marriage. Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the independent UN expert on sexual orientation and gender identity – and also from Costa Rica – described him as “an extraordinary moment of celebration and gratitude for the work of many activists, and quiet reflection of those who lived without this time to see. “
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