Same-sex marriage is a fact in Ecuador

Listen to this article

 

The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of marriage between two same-sex couples, a historical fact in this country of conservative customs

Leer en español: El matrimonio igualitario es un hecho en Ecuador

The vote was as divided as popular opinion: five votes in favor and four votes against marriage between two homosexual couples, as published by El País. This is how this event marks the history and opens the way for the legalization of LGBTI marriage to be accepted in the country, because Ecuadorian society is one in which opinions are divided between the advancement of the rights of the people and respect of traditional values, the position of the conservative sector.

It may interest you: It's a fact! Gay marriage is legal in Taiwan

According to El Universo, constitutional judge Ali Lozada Prado was the judge who handed down the sentence to the protection action filed last August by the couple consisting of Rubén Salazar Gómez and Carlos Verdesoto Rodríguez, one of those issued on Thursday for the cases of marriage between same-sex people in Ecuador. The conclusion of this sentence is that the Constitution recognizes the right of same-sex couples so that a legislator makes marriage between them possible, which obliges the person to do so. If this is not done, the Constitutional Court assures that it would be unjust and it would be a violation of the Inter-American Human Rights System, of which Ecuador is a member.

Countries where equal marriage is legal

There are many countries around the world where constitutions have been modified little by little and many more rights are recognized to collectives such as the LGTBI in this case. The first country that recognized this right was the Netherlands, who in 2001 legalized marriage between same-sex couples and were followed by many countries in Europe. In Canada and the United States it is legalized, while in the African continent they have only legalized it in South Africa in 2006.

As for Latin America and the Caribbean, this form of marriage is legal in countries such as Argentina, which legalized it in 2010; Colombia, which legalized it in 2016; and Brazil, which was the first in the continent to legalize it in 2003. In Mexico, something special happens: there is no federal law that legalizes same-sex marriage, but it has been regulated in different states and cities such as Colima, Morelos and Campeche (2016), Mexico City (2009) and Chihuahua ( 2017), among other places in the country. According to CNN , the states where same-sex marriages are recognized are in Chiapas, Jalisco and Puebla, which legalized it between 2016 and 2017.

We should recall that the last country in the world, before Ecuador, to approve same-sex marriage was Taiwan and is the first to do so in the entire Asian continent.

LatinAmerican Post | Ana María Aray

Translated from "El matrimonio igualitario es un hecho en Ecuador"