Tag Archives: Costa Rica

The Associated Press reports: Costa Rica’s supreme court has given the country’s legislature 18 months to change the law to allow gay marriage. The court voted to make gay marriage legal, declaring that existing laws banning it were unconstitutional. Magistrate Fernando Castillo said in a news conference that the laws were inconsistent with an opinion issued in January by the …

The Washington Post reports: Costa Rica’s governing party won a big presidential election victory Sunday as many voters rejected an evangelical pastor who had jumped into political prominence by campaigning against same-sex marriage. The head of the Supreme Electoral Council, Luis Antonio Sobrado, said that with 95 percent of ballots counted Sunday night, Carlos Alvarado of the ruling Citizen Action …

The Associated Press reports: An international court ruling saying Costa Rica should allow same-sex marriage has upended the Central American nation’s presidential race, turning an evangelical candidate who opposes it from an also-ran with just 2 percent in the polls into the leading contender in Sunday’s vote. Following last month’s decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Fabricio Alvarado, …

The BBC reports: The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights has ruled that same-sex marriages should be recognised. The court’s rulings apply to countries which have signed the American Convention on Human Rights. Some of the signatories already recognise same-sex marriages while others recognise same-sex civil unions. But others, such as Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru do not …

The Tico Times reports: Casa Presidencial presented a bill Wednesday to legalize same-sex common-law marriages in Costa Rica. Supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights celebrated the announcement, even though the government stumbled in its execution of the controversial measure. Bill 18.483 would reform several articles of the family code to formally recognize “stable” relationships of more than three …

Via the Tico Times: A recent ruling by a judge in Goicoechea to recognize the first same-sex common-law marriage in Costa Rica’s history was just in time for a Father’s Day commercial that prominently shows a gay couple. The commercial, “Families in all their forms,” focuses on a father and his son opening a bag of Pozuelo-brand “Familia” cookies. As …

Via the Tico Times: A Costa Rican judge has granted the first openly gay common-law marriage in Central America, said Francisco Madrigal, political affairs director for the Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights in Central America (CIPAC). On Tuesday morning, news broke that Gerald Castro and Cristian Zamora, a gay couple in the city of Goicoechea, north of …

Costa Rica is generally regarded as relatively LGBT friendly, so this is disturbing. Via Inside Costa Rica: In the survey, in which nearly 500 police, traffic, and immigration officers responded, 17.7% said they felt it was acceptable to demand bribes from gay people while 20.4% found it acceptable to detain gay people without probable cause. A further 15.7% said they …

Via the Tico Times: Just over a week since taking office, President Luis Guillermo Solís made history Friday morning when he became the first Costa Rican leader to raise the rainbow flag of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement on even mast with the Costa Rican red-white-and-blue tricolor on the lawn of the Casa Presidencial. Vice President Ana Helena …

Citing a change in “environmental conscience,” Costa Rica will close its zoos and release many of its animals back to the wild. “We are getting rid of the cages and reinforcing the idea of interacting with biodiversity in botanical parks in a natural way,” said Environment Minister René Castro. “We don’t want animals in captivity or enclosed in any way …

On Monday the national legislature of Costa Rica approved a bill that some claim “accidentally” legalizes civil unions or marriage for gay couples. Most had expected the president to veto the bill and that it would be rewritten.  But she has signed it. Via Google Translate: Chinchilla signed the law that was not raised to give rights to homosexuals, but …

Lawmakers in Costa Rica are arguing over who’s to blame after a bill that appears to have legalized civil unions was approved yesterday. According to Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion, a project to ‘reinforce the quality of life in the country’s youth’ also contained clauses about changing the Family Code to include same-sex unions. The bill, which 45 MPs approved …

Andres Duque translates the good news. The Supreme Court in Costa Rica ruled (today) that a referendum scheduled for December 1st which would have banned marriage rights for same-sex couples was unconstitutional. The article does not give the vote total but says that the majority determined that the issue of marriage rights was a judicial issue and not an electoral …

Costa Rican LGBT activists are fighting an effort by the Catholic Church to force a public vote on legal recognition for same-sex relationships. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) approved a proposal made by four lawyers, backed by 150,000 signatures — 20,000 more than are legally required — calling for the referendum, rather than the legislature, to determine whether to allow …

Costa Rica’s highest court has orderd that an upcoming vote on same-sex marriage be suspended because it might violate the nation’s constitution. The Sala Constitucional (Constitutional Court) has ordered the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) to suspend the process of the referendum on same sex marriages that was to have been included in the December 2010 municipal elections. The court …

Zillionaire Rush Limbaugh, who could put a daily heart transplant on his debit card, says he’ll leave the United States if health care reform passes. My guess in even in Canada and even in the UK, doctors have opted out. And once they’ve opted, they can’t see anybody Medicare, Medicaid, or what will become the exchanges. They have to have …

Just elected Costa Rica president Laura Chinchilla says its time for her country to move forward on same-sex partnership rights, but adds that marriage itself must be left to heterosexuals. Clip and captioning by Andres Duque at Blabbeando.

What a strange Pride Month it has been so far for LGBT folks around the world. On the sort of plus side, Colombia tried but failed to grant gay couple similar rights to those of straight couples and Costa Rica is contemplating a similar attempt. On the downside, we’ve got Russia with banned Pride marches, violence against gays, and an …