Gay couples

The two women were able to get married thanks to a registration error, in which Elizondo had mistakenly been listed on her birth records as a man.

President Luis Guillermo Solís on Monday expressed support for Costa Rican families regardless of the form they take, including those seeking children via in vitro fertilization.

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.

Ireland may be preparing for its coming-out party, with a referendum that could make it the world's first country to approve same-sex marriage in a popular vote.

Vice President Ana Helena Chacón announced an executive order that would punish public workers for discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Besides possible disciplinary action, Chacón said that government institutions must recognize same-sex couples in their definition of family members when requesting time off work if their same-sex partner is seriously ill or dying.

HAVANA, Cuba – Cuban President Raúl Castro's daughter Mariela, a lawmaker and gay-rights activist, said Tuesday her organization would hold symbolic gay weddings this weekend in a call for equal rights.

Costa Rica’s Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV, quietly upheld a decision recognizing the rights of gay and lesbian couples last week. The decision, announced on April 30, ruled that the Costa Rican Doctors and Surgeons Association discriminated against gay and lesbian members by refusing to let them sponsor their same-sex partners for membership at the association’s recreational facilities.

Marco Castillo, president of the LGBT advocacy group Diversity Movement, said the bills would be a step forward for LGBT rights in Costa Rica, even if full marriage was not on the table.

Nearly half of all HIV-positive people in Costa Rica are unemployed or not looking for work, according to a recent survey. The results were first published on Nov. 27 amid several events leading up to World AIDS Day on Monday.

Nancy Umaña waves a diversity flag outside Bar Terraza in Parque Central during a protest Friday with LGBT group Beso Diverso. According to Umaña,...