On Wednesday night, the Constitutional Chamber announced the future of same-sex marriage and same-sex common-law marriage. Below we summarize the points you should know about the resolutions.
1. The articles that currently prevent same-sex unions in Costa Rica will be unconstitutional 18 months from now (one year and a half).
2. After 18 months these items will be repealed, that is, they will have no effect and marriages between two men or two women could then be celebrated and registered.
3. The magistrates urged the Legislative Assembly to adapt the current legal framework. They must do so in accordance with the Advisory Opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court of Human Rights), which establishes that the State must guarantee the same rights to heterosexual and homosexual couples.
4. If the legislators fail to reach a consensus, the articles will also be unconstitutional 18 months from now, which will render the prohibition ineffective and marriages could still be celebrated then.
5. The agreement of the Superior Notaries Council that bans them from from celebrating marriages between people of the same sex was also declared unconstitutional.
6. The articles that will be unconstitutional a year and a half from now are: section 6 of article 14 of the Family Code and section 234 of the same article, as well as subsection m, of article 4 of the Law of the Young Person.
7. The legislators could make reforms before the 18th month of the term, so the ban could be lifted before a year and a half.