History On May 23, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled against
same-sex marriages. In a 5–2 decision, the court ruled that it was not required by the
Constitution of Costa Rica to recognize same-sex marriage in family law. On March 19, 2015, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage was introduced to the Legislative Assembly by Deputy Ligia Elena Fallas Rodríguez from the
Broad Front. On December 10, 2015, the organization Front for Equal Rights (
Frente por los Derechos Igualitarios) and a group of deputies from the
Citizens' Action Party, the
National Liberation Party and the Broad Front presented another bill. The bill was submitted to the Assembly on January 28, 2016. In December 2016, the Citizens' Action Party announced its support for same-sex marriage, calling for same-sex couples to receive the same rights as opposite-sex couples, including
adoption. A few days later, President
Luis Guillermo Solís, a member of PAC, confirmed his personal opposition to same-sex marriage, but restated his commitment to approving a partnership law for same-sex couples. Costa Rica saw its first same-sex marriage in 2015. The couple, Laura Florez-Estrada and Jasmine Elizondo, were able to marry due to a clerical error where Elizondo was accidentally recorded as the opposite gender at birth. The civil registry filed a criminal complaint against the couple. In February 2019, the prosecutor's office dropped a court case against the couple. In April 2017, a Costa Rican citizen and a Mexican citizen who had previously wed in
Mexico asked the Costa Rican embassy in
Mexico City to recognize their same-sex marriage. The civil registry denied their request, based on the country's same-sex marriage ban. The couple appealed to the Supreme Electoral Court and said they were considering a possible appeal to the Supreme Court or the Inter-American Court of Human Rights if necessary. In November 2017, Costa Rica hosted a conference on the marital rights of same-sex couples across
Latin America. Speaking at the conference, Vice President
Ana Helena Chacón, one of Costa Rica's two vice presidents, announced her support for same-sex marriage.
2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights advisory opinion On 9 January 2018, the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) issued an
advisory opinion that parties to the
American Convention on Human Rights should grant same-sex couples "accession to all existing domestic legal systems of family registration, including marriage, along with all rights that derive from marriage". The advisory opinion states that: The Costa Rican Government announced that it would abide by the opinion. Vice President
Ana Helena Chacón said that the ruling would be adopted in "its totality". The Foreign Ministry notified the Judiciary, the
Supreme Electoral Court (responsible for the civil registry) and the Legislative Assembly about the advisory opinion on January 12. The first same-sex couple was scheduled to get married on January 20. However, on January 18 the Superior Council of Notaries stated that notaries could not perform same-sex marriages until provisions in the Family Code prohibiting such marriages are changed by the Legislative Assembly or struck down by the Supreme Court. The couple announced their intention to challenge the council's decision in the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV).
Minister of Justice and Peace Marco Feoli Villalobos reiterated that the IACHR opinion was fully binding on Costa Rica.
Reaction Costa Rica has long been committed to the Inter-American juridical system, and Article 7 of the
Constitution of Costa Rica explicitly states that the country's international agreements take precedence over national laws. The Costa Rican Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the IACHR is the definitive interpreter of the American Convention on Human Rights and that all of the court's opinions are fully binding on Costa Rica. LGBT activists and human rights groups celebrated the IACHR opinion, while the Catholic Church and evangelical groups condemned it. The ruling was met with outrage among conservative and evangelical groups, who argued that the court had "disrespected" Costa Rica's laws. Some opponents of the advisory opinion called for the country to leave the jurisdiction of the court, which would require a
constitutional amendment. Several supporters of the opinion argued that local legislation was not required to legalise same-sex marriage, citing a 2016 court decision regarding the legalisation of
in vitro fertilisation (IVF), in which the IACHR stated that presidential and/or governmental decrees are sufficient to implement its opinions. Most of the candidates in the
February 2018 presidential elections announced their support for or willingness to respect the IACHR advisory opinion, with the exception of
Fabricio Alvarado, Stephanie Campos and Mario Rendondo, all of them from minor Christian parties. Other candidates had already been in favor of same-sex marriage before the IACHR opinion, including former Labor and Social Security Minister
Carlos Alvarado Quesada from the governing
Citizens' Action Party (PAC), left-leaning Deputy Edgardo Araya and labor union activist Jhon Vega. The remaining candidates signaled that they were personally opposed to same-sex marriage but willing to accept the court opinion. Fabricio Alvarado, an evangelist of the
National Restoration Party, claimed that the court had "violated" Costa Rica's sovereignty. In the days following the IACHR advisory opinion, Alvarado began polling in first place with 17%, up from 3-5% prior to the ruling. Support for Carlos Alvarado, a pro-same-sex marriage candidate, also increased considerably. In the February 2018 elections, the
National Liberation Party (PLN) remained the largest party in the Legislative Assembly, while several previously minor Christian parties, including the National Restoration Party, made significant gains. As of July 2018, eight of the ten PAC deputies and
José María Villalta, the sole
Broad Front deputy, support same-sex marriage. The remaining two PAC deputies and all the deputies from PLN, the
Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), the
Social Christian Republican Party (PRSC) and the
National Integration Party (PIN) expressed their support for same-sex civil partnerships only. In the presidential runoff between Carlos Alvarado and Fabricio Alvarado on April 1, 2018, dubbed by some media outlets as a "de facto referendum on same-sex marriage", same-sex marriage supporter Carlos Alvarado won with over 60% of the vote. Following his win, he said: "I will lead a government for all and all. That shelters all people, without any distinction."
2018 Supreme Court ruling () issued a ruling in favor of same-sex marriage in August 2018. On January 24, the Center for Justice and International Law (Cejil) asked the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) to rule on the issue of same-sex marriage quickly. On January 25, the Superior Council of Notaries clarified its position, stating that notaries could not perform same-sex marriages until the civil registry issued guidelines on the registration of such marriages. Despite this, one same-sex couple was married by a notary in February 2018. The notary in question faced an investigation, but rejected any wrongdoing, stating that he respected international law and took a stand against discrimination when marrying the couple. The marriage was later annulled. An additional eight same-sex couples had applied for
marriage licenses by May 2018. On February 22, 2018,
La Nación reported that the Sala IV was reviewing six
lawsuits seeking the legalization of same-sex marriage in the country. On March 9, 2018, the Attorney General,
Emilia Navas Aparicio, recommended to the court to abide by the IACHR ruling and declare article 14 of the Family Code, which prohibited same-sex marriage, unconstitutional. On May 14, the Supreme Electoral Court stated that same-sex couples could not get married unless article 14 of the Family Code was either repealed by the Legislative Assembly or struck down by the Supreme Court. On July 18, it was announced that the Sala IV would rule on two lawsuits from 2013 and 2015 challenging the constitutionality of articles 14 and 242 of the Family Code, as well as article 4 of the 2013 ''General Young Person's Act'', in the first half of August 2018. On August 3, the Commissioner for LGBTI Population Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic, Luis Salazar, presented a letter asking the Sala IV to legalize same-sex marriage, signed by 182 public figures, including former presidents
Luis Guillermo Solís,
Laura Chinchilla,
Óscar Arias and
Abel Pacheco. On August 8, 2018, the Sala IV declared all three of the articles in question unconstitutional and gave the Legislative Assembly 18 months (from the publication of the ruling) to amend the laws accordingly. If the Assembly did not comply, both same-sex marriage and same-sex
de facto unions would automatically become legal when the deadline passed. The ruling was welcomed by President
Carlos Alvarado Quesada, but several lawmakers expressed doubts that the Legislative Assembly would amend the law before the deadline. On November 14, the court released the full written ruling, which was published in the judicial bulletin on November 26, 2018, setting a deadline for May 26, 2020. In anticipation of the ruling taking effect, a decree giving same-sex couples access to housing allowance if they have been living together for three years was issued in December 2019 and published in the official gazette (
La Gaceta) in February 2019. The decree was adopted in compliance with the 2018 IACHR ruling.
Legislative efforts to postpone In February 2019, a group of conservative deputies introduced a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, which according to the deputies was supported by 150,000 citizens. The bill sought to amend Article 52 of the Constitution from the current text: "Marriage is the essential basis of the family and rests on the equal rights of the spouses" to "Marriage is the union of a man and a woman, rests on the equal rights of the spouses, and is the essential basis of the family." The launch of the initiative was attended by the PNR bloc, Independent Deputy
Erick Rodríguez Steller, Patricia Villegas Álvarez from the National Integration Party, Shirley Díaz Mejías from the Social Christian Unity Party, and a faction of the Social Christian Republican Party. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority in the Legislative Assembly. The proposal was not approved. On May 12, 2020, a motion requesting that the Supreme Court postpone the application of the ruling to allow more time to legislate due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, signed by 26 deputies, was presented to the
President of the Legislative Assembly,
Eduardo Cruickshank Smith. On May 19, the Assembly rejected a proposition by Cruickshank to put the motion at the top of the Assembly's agenda, with 33 votes against and 20 in favor.
Entry into force Consequently, the court ruling went into effect on May 26, 2020. The first marriage ceremony of a same-sex couple, Alexandra Quirós Castillo and Dunia Daritza Araya Arguedas, was broadcast by the
state-owned Canal 13 at midnight on May 26. Several other ceremonies took place later that day. State officials later clarified that married same-sex couples are permitted to adopt. In a June 2020 interview, Jorge Urbina Soto, coordinator of the National Children's Institute (PANI,
Patronato Nacional de la Infancia), stated that all prospective adoptive parents are evaluated for eligibility irrespective of
sexual orientation or sex. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal also clarified that if a married lesbian couple conceives a child through assisted insemination, the non-biological mother will be automatically recognized as the child's legal mother. The Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that judges appointed prior to the legalisation of same-sex marriage can refuse to preside over such a marriage, provided they have notified the Superior Council of the Judiciary and a replacement judge has been found. Judges appointed since the legalisation of same-sex marriage cannot refuse to solemnize the marriage. In July 2020, the Costa Rican Association of Travel Agencies (ACAV) stated that the legalisation of same-sex marriage would increase
tourism in Costa Rica and help boost the country's weakened economy after the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Statistics 82 same-sex couples married the first week after the legalisation of same-sex marriages. Data from the
National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica shows that the majority of same-sex marriages are performed in
San José Province: ==Public opinion==