Same-sex marriage now legal in Costa Rica and Colombia

Same-sex marriages will be allowed in Costa Rica starting Tuesday  Tuesday May 26 after the Supreme Court of that country’s Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the articles that prevented same-sex couples from both celebrating marriage and de facto union.

The ruling was announced in mid-2018, but the Court suspended the effects for 18 months for Congress to legislate on it. Failure to do so, would mean the two standards would automatically be repealed.

The ruling declared two articles of the Family Code unconstitutional, which established: “same-sex marriage is legally impossible” and that de facto unions “are only between men and women.”

Several attempts to postpone the entry into force of the decision, prompted by a group of deputies aligned with conservative and evangelical groups, failed.

Both Costa Rica and Colombia, the two nations bordering Panama, now allow equal marriage.

The Supreme Court of Panama maintains four warnings since 2016 unconstitutional on similar provisions contained in the Family Code, but so far has not acted.

Costa Rica becomes the first country in Central America and number 32 in the world to allow either marriage or civil unions.

Costa Rica had made important advances in recognizing the rights of the LGBTI population in recent years, such as those that guarantee couples social security coverage, hospital visits, as well as the death pension for the surviving couple.

During the debate, a manifesto called “For equality and against discrimination” circulated, signed by former presidents Abel Pacheco, Laura Chinchilla, Luis Guillermo Solís and the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Óscar Arias, and 200 figures of national events, among deputies, ministers, rectors, ex-magistrates, journalists, intellectuals and artists.