In honor of Universal Human Rights Month, let’s check how same-sex couples’ are faring in the Americas. So far we have are 8 countries that are same-sex marriage pioneers in North and South America. The map is filled in on the top and lower half, with no legal marriage in Central America or the Caribbean.

Who do you guess might be on the list supporting the cause of love? Perhaps the United States? Yes, the US is one of the eight, you remember the news. Were they the first in the continent? No, that honor goes to Canada in 2005.

On the other side of the struggle, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Paraguay have constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. In those countries, traditional Catholic culture dominates. Please send peaceful thoughts for justice there.

How about the leaders in South America? Argentina (2010), Brazil (2013), and Uruguay (2013) passed laws allowing two men or two women to marry before the United States did in 2015. That was the same year Mexico (2015) joined the party. Since then Colombia (2016) and Ecuador (2019) have legalized LGBTQ+ couples’ marriages. Costa Rica plans to be the first Central American country to do likewise, in 2020. Same-sex partners may register for civil unions in Chile. A bill is in the Chilean Congress (on hold since 2017) to legalize their marriage.

As for the Spanish-speaking mother country, Spain, they legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, the same year as Canada. ¡Olé!

All in all, that’s 8 countries in the Americas where love wins. That’s a good start. Go out love, and win some more!

Gracias for reading and commenting! ¡Olé! –Rebecca