Ecuador approves same-sex marriage
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Ecuador’s decision to allow same-sex marriage has topped a landmark week for LGBT+ rights after Botswana decriminalized gay sex and Bhutan took the first steps to do so, said campaigners marking the 50th anniversary of the gay equality movement.
Five of nine judges in Ecuador’s top court on Wednesday ruled in favor of two gay couples who sued after their request to be married was denied by the country’s civil registry.
The Latin American nation is the 27th country to allow same-sex marriage with the move coming during the annual gay pride month and events to mark the 50th year of the Stonewall riots in New York that gave rise to the LGBT+ rights’ global movement.
A day earlier Botswana’s top court voted to decriminalize homosexuality and Bhutan’s lower house six days ago voted to repeal a similar law that needs upper chamber approval.
This would leave 68 nations and regions where same-sex relations are illegal.
“The victories we’ve witnessed in the last couple of weeks will improve the lives of millions of LGBT+ people around the world,” said Mathias Wasik, director of programs at international LGBT rights group All Out.
Despite the recent milestones, however, LGBT+ rights advocates cautioned that significant global challenges remain.
In May, Kenya’s high court upheld the country’s ban on gay sex, so same-sex relations remain punishable by 14 years in jail and Brunei announced but then reversed a decision to impose death by stoning for gay sex after a global backlash.
Campaigns in some countries during parliamentary elections in the European Union in May were characterized by anti-gay rhetoric including by Poland’s Law and Justice Party and Spain’s far-right Vox party challenging acceptance of LGBT+ rights.
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