El Salvador recognizes neither

same-sex marriage 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 union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

s or any other legally recognized union for same-sex couples. A proposal to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples was rejected twice in 2006, and once again in April 2009 after the

Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, FMLN) is a left-wing political party in El Salvador. The FMLN was formed as an umbrella group on 10 October 1980, from five leftist gu ...

(FMLN) refused to grant the measure the four votes it needed to be ratified.

Legal history

Constitutional attempts to ban same-sex marriage

The

Constitution of El Salvador The current constitution of El Salvador was enacted in 1983 and amended in 2003. The 1983 constitution of El Salvador is similar to that of 1962, often incorporating verbatim passages from the earlier document. The constitution consists of 11 t ...

does not explicitly ban the recognition of

s. Article 32 reads: "The legal foundation of the family is marriage and rests on the juridical equality of the spouses." However, article 11 of the Family Code of El Salvador states that

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 ...

is the "union of a man and a woman". In 2006, a constitutional amendment to ban the legal recognition of same-sex unions was proposed by opponents of same-sex marriage. The measure was backed by the conservative

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

, President Antonio Saca and several other parties; i.e. Democratic Change, the Front for Democratic Revolution and the

National Conciliation Party The National Coalition Party ( es, Partido de Concertación Nacional, PCN) is a nationalist political party in El Salvador. Until 2011 it was known as the National Conciliation Party ( es, Partido de Conciliación Nacional, PCN). It was the most ...

. It was opposed, and thus defeated, by the

(FMLN). It failed to win enough votes to be formally ratified due opposition from several FMLN legislators. While the FMLN has consistently opposed attempts to amend the Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, citing their belief that such laws are discriminatory, the party has stated that it has no intention to legalize same-sex marriage. On 30 April 2009, the

Legislative Assembly of El Salvador The Legislative Assembly ( es, Asamblea Legislativa) is the legislative branch of the government of El Salvador. Structure The Salvadoran legislature is a unicameral body. It is made up of 84 deputies, all of whom are elected by direct popu ...

approved a last-minute constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage by defining marriage as being between "a man and a woman" only and barring same-sex couples from adopting children. Civil rights groups vowed to fight the measure, which still needed to be voted on by other government branches before becoming law. The amendment eventually failed the same month. On 25 April 2012, another attempt to enact a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples was introduced to the Legislative Assembly. The measure eventually failed on 8 February 2014, after receiving only 19 votes in favor of its ratification. On 17 April 2015, a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage was approved once again in the Assembly at

first reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming, ...

, with 47 votes in favor. To be successfully included in the Constitution, the law had to be ratified by a two-thirds majority of the Assembly, or 56 of its 84 members. In November 2016, following the filing of a lawsuit to legalize same-sex marriage, some conservative MPs renewed their efforts to pass the ban. In January 2018, the Constitutional Court declared the proposed amendment unlawful because of "procedural missteps".

Attempts to recognise same-sex unions

In August 2021, the government of President

Nayib Bukele Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez (; born 24 July 1981) is a Salvadoran politician and businessman who is the 43rd president of El Salvador, serving since 1 June 2019. He is the first president since José Napoleón Duarte (1984–1989) not to have ...

proposed constitutional changes to permit same-sex couples to marry, prohibit discrimination 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 ...

and legalize

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

when the life of the mother is in danger. As constitutional reforms in El Salvador must be approved by two successive congresses to take effect, the earliest the law could be enacted would be 2027. In December 2021, Bukele backtracked and ruled out possible constitutional reforms to legalize same-sex marriage.

Legal challenges

In August 2016, a law student filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of El Salvador seeking the nullification of article 11 of the Family Code, which defines marriage as the "union of a man and a woman". Calling the law discriminatory and explaining the lack of gendered terms used in Article 34 of the

's summary of marriage, the lawsuit sought to allow same-sex couples the right to marry. On 20 December 2016, the Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit on a legal technicality. A second lawsuit against article 11 was filed on 11 November 2016, but it was dismissed by the Supreme Court on procedural grounds on 17 January 2019. On 9 August 2019, a case challenging article 11 of the Family Code was admitted to the Constitutional Court. Originally filed in 2016 by activist Gabriel Gasteazoro, the case alleges that the provisions outlawing same-sex marriages in the Family Code are unconstitutional. A ruling was expected in the first three months of 2020, but was not issued.

2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling

On January 9, 2018, in advisory opinion OC 24/7, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that countries signatory to the

American Convention on Human Rights The American Convention on Human Rights, also known as the Pact of San José, is an international human rights instrument. It was adopted by many countries in the Western Hemisphere in San José, Costa Rica, on 22 November 1969. It came into for ...

are required to allow same-sex couples to marry. The ruling states that: El Salvador ratified the American Convention on Human Rights on 23 June 1978 and recognized the court's jurisdiction on 6 June 1995. In the wake of the ruling,

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 ...

groups have urged the

Government of El Salvador The Government of El Salvador is a presidential representative democratic republic. The seat of the central government is in San Salvador. Executive branch President of El Salvador El Salvador elects its head of state, the President of El ...

to abide by the decision and legalise same-sex marriage.

Public opinion

According to a 2008 poll, 14% of Salvadorans supported same-sex marriage, while 80% were opposed and 6% were undecided. A 2010 poll revealed that El Salvador had some of the lowest support for legalizing same-sex marriage in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, at 10%. According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted between November 9 and December 17, 2013, 11% of Salvadorans supported same-sex marriage, while 81% were opposed. The 2017 AmericasBarometer showed that 19% of Salvadorans supported same-sex marriage.CULTURA POLÍTICA DE LA DEMOCRACIA EN LA REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA Y EN LAS AMÉRICAS, 2016/17
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Notes

References

{{Status of same-sex unions El Salvador LGBT rights in El Salvador