Yay for gays

"We want marriage equality, we want everything that other families have," said Marisol Mayorga, one of the hundreds of people who marched in San José's 2016 LGBT pride parade on Sunday.

Hundreds of same-sex couples have successfully applied to insure their partners after the Costa Rican Social Security System board of directors voted to expand health care benefits, a policy that went into effect a year ago Tuesday. Some of the highest acceptance rates occurred in rural areas.

The director of Costa Rica's Civil Registry has filed a criminal complaint alleging unlawful marriage against two women who were wed here in July, because the registry mistakenly had listed one of them as a man. A complaint also was filed against the couple's public notary, the registry official announced on Monday.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Same-sex marriage was signed into law in Ireland on Thursday, five months after a historic referendum saw the traditionally Catholic nation become the world's first country to vote for gay unions.

PANAMA CITY – Gay rights activists in Panama on Monday presented a bill to lawmakers that would make hate crimes against gays, lesbians and transsexuals illegal -- and punishable by up to a year in jail.

The bill would reform several articles of the family code to formally recognize “stable" relationships of more than three years between two people, regardless of their “sex, identity, sexual orientation or choice” with all the personal and property protections of legal marriage.

The movement, fomented by a photo-editing tool that Facebook launched Friday, is a response to major news events that we've seen before: Profile picture change campaigns have become as common as cat videos on certain social networks. There were green filters for Iranian protesters in 2009, yellow ribbons for Hong Kong in 2014, black dots to oppose sexual violence in India, Arabic "Ns" to support Iraqi Christians.

Floats festooned with rainbow flags and balloons inched their way down San José’s main thoroughfare, Paseo Colón and Avenida 2, between marchers carrying flags and signs in support of equal rights for Costa Rica’s LGBT community. Thousands participated, including Vice President Ana Helena Chacón and several large corporations, including Intel, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Thompson Reuters, among others.

WASHINGTON, D. C. – Justice Anthony Kennedy was opposed by gay rights groups when he was chosen for the U.S. Supreme Court, but on Friday he cemented his legacy as the court's most influential champion for their cause.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay marriage is a nationwide right, a landmark decision in one of the most keenly awaited announcements in decades and sparking scenes of jubilation.

Costa Rica’s Ombudsman’s Office launched its latest human rights campaign Wednesday in support of LGBT people. The only thing missing was LGBT people.

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.

Along with being the first legal recognition of a same-sex relationship in Central America, the decision could set an example for judges elsewhere in the country to recognize gay relationships and even adoption. But both supporters and opponents of the ruling expect a forthcoming legal battle.

Ireland on Saturday became the first country in the world to approve gay marriage by referendum with an overwhelming 62 percent "Yes" vote, further denting the once all-powerful Irish Catholic Church.