Costa Rica Is First Central American Nation to Enact Marriage Equality

When marriage equality became legal in Costa Rica on Tuesday, following a ruling from the country's supreme court that lifted the previous ban, Daritza Araya and Alexandra Quiros (pictured) became the first couple to wed there shortly after midnight.

The women were married by a notary wearing a facemask at an outdoor service that was livestreamed, according to the Associated Press.

The law made Costa Rica the first country in Central America to legalize marriage equality and the sixth country in Latin America to do so, following Ecuador, where it became legal in 2019.

Marriage equality activist Marco Castillo, who was on the frontlines of the fight in the court system, married his partner Tuesday morning.

"This is a step in social equality. The fact that Rodrigo and I are able to come marry each other in a court is progress," Castillo said. "This drives us to continue other fights for those who have a different sexual orientation."

"Today we celebrate freedom, equality and democratic institutions," Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado Quesada said in a message on TV and social networking.

Alvarado was elected to office in 2018, beating the evangelical candidate Fabricio Alvarado at a time when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights said that countries that signed the American Convention on Human Rights, including Costa Rica, had to take steps to make marriage equality the law, according to the AP.