Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

recognised the first same-sex civil union on 9 December 2020. As of October 2022, there are four same-sex couples who have managed to officially register their free union based on the application of Advisory Opinion OC-24/17 of November 24, 2017 issued by the

Inter-American Court of Human Rights The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR or IACtHR) is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a huma ...

.The

Constitution of Bolivia The current Constitution of Bolivia ( es, Constitución Política del Estado; literally, the ''Political Constitution of the State'') came into effect on 7 February 2009 when it was promulgated by President Evo Morales, after being approved in a ...

does not recognize

same-sex marriages Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

Civil unions

Article 63(II) of the

limits free unions (''uniones libres'' or ''uniones de hecho'') to opposite-sex couples. In April 2012, Erica Claure, a member of the opposition coalition, the Plan Progress for Bolivia – National Convergence, introduced a bill in the

Plurinational Legislative Assembly The Plurinational Legislative Assembly ( es, Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional) is the national legislature of Bolivia, placed in La Paz, the country's seat of government. The assembly is bicameral, consisting of a lower house (the Chamber of ...

to legalize same-sex civil unions. Lawyer and LGBT activist Víctor Hugo Vidangos indicated that the bill would grant civil partners equal rights to married couples in terms of

inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ ...

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

next of kin A person's next of kin (NOK) are that person's closest living blood relatives. Some countries, such as the United States, have a legal definition of "next of kin". In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, "next of kin" may have no legal d ...

labor law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...

and

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

; "We are asking for civil rights, we do not touch religious issues because we are in a secular state", said Hugo Vidangos. The bill was sent to the Human Rights Commission of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

for study. It was opposed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and several members of the

Movement for Socialism The Movement for Socialism–Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples ( es, Movimiento al Socialismo–Instrumento Político por la Soberanía de los Pueblos, abbreviated MAS-IPSP, or simply MAS, punning on ''más'', Spanish for ...

(MAS). In May 2012, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rebecca Delgado, said that the Constitution of Bolivia recognises only unions "between a man and a woman", and the president of the Plural Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Juan Carlos Cejas, said that the bill was probably unconstitutional. In August 2012, Senator Hilda Saavedra from the governing MAS party introduced another civil union bill, citing Article 14(II) of the Bolivian Constitution which prohibits

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

on the basis of

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

. Both measures were tabled. Saavedra presented another bill in September 2013. In July 2014, Public Advocate Rolando Villena called for same-sex unions to be included in the country's new Family Code. On 16 October 2014, the Chamber of Senators passed a revised family code that removed gender-specific terms. Activists had hoped that this would lead to same-sex couples being granted many of the same rights as heterosexual couples. The code was approved in the Chamber of Deputies, and was enacted in August 2015. The new Family Code made no mention of

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

, but it was clarified that it had no legal weight to apply to same-sex couples. Article 147 states that free unions and marriages are valid "provided they meet the conditions established in the Political Constitution". In April 2015, Vice President

Álvaro García Linera Álvaro Marcelo García Linera (; born 19 October 1962) is a Bolivian politician, sociologist, Theoretician (Marxism), marxist theoretician, and former Guerrilla warfare, guerilla who served as the 38th Vice President of Bolivia, vice preside ...

stated that a discussion on the legalisation of same-sex unions would happen "sooner rather than later". This statement was followed by the president of the Chamber of Senators, José Alberto Gonzales, announcing his support for discussing the issue: "If they love each other, what is the roblem". Due to Article 63 of the Political Constitution,

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

activists have instead begun pushing for a "Family Life Agreement" (''Acuerdo de Vida en Familia''), a legal institution separate from marriage or free unions but offering similar legal rights. On 21 September 2015, an LGBT advocacy group, the Bolivian Coalition of LGBT Collectives (''Coalición Boliviana de Colectivos LGBT'', Coalibol), handed the Plurinational Legislative Assembly a bill to legalize same-sex unions under the term "Family Life Agreement". The proposal sought to grant same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples with the exception of

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

. Citing a lack of process in the Assembly, Coalibol delivered the bill to Ombudsman David Tezanos Pinto in September 2016 who was asked to promote the bill in the Assembly. The group reintroduced its proposal in June 2017, again citing no legislative progress. On 5 October 2018, couple David Aruquipa Pérez and Guido Montaño Durán went to a Civil Registry Service (SERECI) office in

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

seeking to formalise their 9-year-old relationship as a free union. The registry refused, alleging that the Political Constitution prevented the registration of same-sex unions. The couple filed an administrative appeal invoking violations of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and Article 256 of the Constitution. In September 2019, SERECI issued a resolution affirming the rejection, and on 10 February 2020 the couple filed a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

in court. On 3 July 2020, the Second Constitutional Chamber of the La Paz Departmental Court of Justice, citing advisory opinion OC 24/7 issued by the

, ruled in favor of the couple. SERECI appealed the decision to the Constitutional Court. On 9 December 2020, SERECI reversed its position and issued "Resolution 003/2020", ordering the registration of the free union of Aruquipa Pérez and Montaño Durán. The couple finally registered their union on 18 December 2020. This decision sets a

precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

for other same-sex couples to access this recognition in Bolivia. LGBT groups described the decision as "historic". In May 2021, a SERECI office in La Paz refused to register the relationship of a lesbian couple. A lawyer representing the couple argued that this denial is contradictory to the registry's own resolution issued in December 2020. On May 13, 2022, another same-sex couple managed to register their free union based on the Advisory Opinion OC-24/17, after a year of waiting and bureaucratic procedures. On May 27, 2022, a third same-sex couple was able to formalize their free union by registering their relationship with the Civil Registry Service of the city of Santa Cruz, whose administrative process lasted more than a year. On October 7, 2022, a fourth couple officially registered their free union in the offices of the Civic Registry Service of La Paz. The process lasted a month according to the couple.

Same-sex marriage

Article 63(I) of the

states the following in relation to

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

: * in Spanish: * in Quechua: * in Aymara: * in Guarani: * ''(Marriage between a woman and a man is formed by legal bond and is based on equality of the rights and duties of the spouses.)'' In July 2010, following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Argentina, Vice President

said that the

Cabinet of Bolivia Council of Ministers of Bolivia, or Cabinet of Bolivia, is part of the executive branch of the Bolivian government, consisting of the heads of the variable number of government ministries. The Council of Ministers are ministers of state and con ...

led by President Evo Morales had no plans to legalize same-sex marriage. In 2013, constitutionalist Jose Antonio Rivera said he believed that "article 63 of the Constitution does not foresee a prohibition on marriages between people of the same sex; what it does is characterize the modalities of marriages between a man and a woman". Antonio Rivera stated that pursuant to Articles 14(II) and 66 of the Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and recognise sexual freedom, same-sex couples should be able to marry in Bolivia, but that interpretation of the articles lays with the Plurinational Constitutional Court. The new Family Code approved by the Legislative Assembly in 2014 is written in gender-neutral terminology, However, article 147 states that marriages and free unions are valid "provided they meet the conditions established in the Political Constitution".

2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling

On January 9, 2018, in advisory opinion OC 24/7, the

(IACHR) ruled that countries signatory to the American Convention on Human Rights are required to allow same-sex couples to marry. The ruling states that: Bolivia ratified the American Convention on Human Rights on 19 July 1979 and recognized the court's jurisdiction on 27 July 1993. The ruling sets binding precedent for Bolivian courts. Human rights activists believe Bolivia is now required to legalise same-sex marriage under Article 256 of the Political Constitution:

Public opinion

According to a

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...

survey conducted between 7 November 2013 and 13 February 2014, 22% of Bolivians supported same-sex marriage and 67% were opposed. A poll conducted in June 2015 by newspaper ''

Página Siete ''Página Siete'' is a daily newspaper published in La Paz, Bolivia. It was founded on 24 April 2010. Página Siete focuses on politics and economics, but it also has social and culture sections. The government of Evo Morales Juan Evo M ...

'' found that 74% of Bolivians opposed same-sex marriage. The 2017 AmericasBarometer showed that 35% of Bolivians supported same-sex marriage.Cultura Política de la Democracia en la República Dominicana y en las Américas, 2016/17
/ref>

References

External links

Bolivia (Plurinational State of)'s Constitution of 2009
{{South America in topic, Same-sex marriage in LGBT rights in Bolivia