Costa Rica Leads Central America on Gay Marriage
Queer couples, nation’s president celebrate new law after years of legal limbo
BY MATT TRACY
Following a prolonged legal
battle, Costa Rica on
May 26 became the fi rst
nation in Central America
to welcome same-sex marriage
rights.
The nation offi cially recognized
marriage equality after years of
legal hand-wringing that led to a
2018 ruling by Costa Rica’s Constitutional
Court that the nation’s
legislature would have a year and a
half to legalize same-sex marriage
or else the court’s ruling would
automatically usher in marriage
equality.
Even then, stubborn lawmakers
opposed to same-sex marriage
battled to the very end and sought
to use the coronavirus as justifi cation
to delay implementation, according
to The Costa Rica Star.
Costa Rican President Carlos
Alvarado Quesada, who rose to
power in 2018 following a contentious
election battle that featured
an anti-LGBTQ candidate, praised
the ruling and described it as a
step forward for equality.
“Today, Costa Rica offi cially
recognizes same-sex marriage,”
he wrote in a tweet translated
from Spanish to English. “Today
we celebrate liberty, equality, and
our democratic institutions. May
➤ UGANDAN DETAINEES, from p.24
the area and the leadership were
worried about the ‘homosexual’ behavior
of the youths who they believed
to be a bad infl uence in the
area,” the Human Rights Awareness
and Promotion Forum, which
provides legal representation to
marginalized people in Uganda,
said in a written statement at the
time of the arrests.
Hajj Abdul Kiyimba, the mayor
of the local municipality, approved
the raid and took matters into his
own hands, physically assaulting
two individuals and interrogating
them about their sexual orientation,
attorneys said at the time.
Cops then tore through the shelter
Rodrigo Campos and his partner Marcos Castillo embrace during their marriage ceremony after Costa
Rica legalized same-sex marriage, in San Jose on May 26.
empathy and love be the compass
that guide us forward and allow us
to move forward and build a country
that has room for everyone.”
Couples started getting married
at midnight on May 26 as they
made history in the fi rst nation to
achieve marriage equality in the region
since Ecuadorians did so last
year. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia,
Uruguay, and many of Mexico’s
states allow same-sex marriage.
Whenever the coronavirus pandemic
dissipates, same-sex marriage
rights could potentially lead
to a boost in tourism to Costa Rica,
which already has long been established
digging for evidence of homosexuality
and confi scating bottles of
PrEP, HIV testing kids, and condoms.
The mass arrests represented a
prime example of how a nation has
used coronavirus protective measures
to overpolice queer individuals
housed together because they
had no other choice. The rights of
the victims were further infringed
when lawyers were initially unable
to meet with them because Uganda
did not deem attorneys essential
workers.
Now, with the individuals fi nally
released, organizations like SMUG
and COSF are looking ahead to
the looming challenges facing the
victims as they re-enter society.
REUTERS/JUAN CARLOS ULATE
as a top destination for
LGBTQ international travelers.
The Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, which is based in Costa
Rica, issued a 2017 opinion stating
that same-sex couples should
have the same rights as straight
couples. In January of 2018, that
court ruled that member nations
should provide same-sex couples
with marriage rights, a ruling that
was followed up by Costa Rica’s
Constitutional Court.
The ruling that led to same-sex
marriage was similar to one in
Taiwan, which secured marriage
rights last year when the legislature
Frank Mugisha, the executive director
of SMUG, said his organization
is now tasked with connecting
those individuals to medical treatment,
psycho-social support, and
a safe home environment.
INTERNATIONAL
voted in favor of a bill that
legalized same-sex marriage two
years after that nation’s Constitutional
Court struck down the ban
and gave lawmakers a deadline to
pass a marriage law. Like in Costa
Rica, that ruling also led to stiff resistance
from those who opposed
marriage rights.
Victor Madrigal-Borloz, who
hails from Costa Rica and serves
as the United Nation’s independent
expert on sexual orientation and
gender identity, posted a written
statement on Twitter hours before
the new law went into effect.
“In a few hours my country, #CostaRica,
will recognise equal marriage.
An extraordinary moment
of celebration and gratitude to the
work of so many activists, and of
quiet refl ection of the lives of those
who lived without seeing this moment.
#siaceptoCR #IESOGI”
Evan Wolfson, the founder and
president of Freedom to Marry,
which wound down after the US
Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage
equality ruling, also congratulated
Costa Ricans who have long waited
for queer weddings.
“Felicidades, #CostaRica,” Wolfson
wrote on Facebook. “You are
an example showing the world
that #LoveWon. Now it’s time for
the Freedom to Marry throughout
#LatinAmerica.”
“This tormenting of the LGBTIQ
community has to end,” Mugisha
said. “I appeal to law enforcement
offi cers to refrain from using their
powers to harass and target LGBTIQ
people.”
GayCityNews.com | June 04 - June 17, 2020 33
/GayCityNews.com
