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.
An Argentine toddler is the first in that country to legally have two mommies and a daddy. Antonio's lesbian mothers, Susana Guichal and Valeria Gaete, and sperm-donor father, Hernan Melazzi, are all named on the child's birth certificate.
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.
Considering that a group of care workers did not even believe that LGBTI elderly people exist, among other factors, the survey determined that Costa Rica did not have an adequate supply of services and resources for LGBTI senior citizens.
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.
The parties to the cases are to address two questions: whether the Constitution requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and whether states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states where they are legal.
This week's historic hearing on same-sex marriage is both the logical extension and ultimate showdown in a decades-long argument that so far Anthony Kennedy has always won against Antonin Scalia.
