Ecuador High Court approve marriage for 2 gay couples

This is my favourite kind of news!

Photo of one of the lucky couples.

[quote] Finally some good news.

How quickly you forget Bhutan and Botswana.

R3, no. I am very glad that both of those countries decriminalized homosexuality.

This is a great leap forward for Ecuador. I studied abroad there 15 years ago and this is huge progress for one of the more traditional countries of South America.

[quote]I studied abroad there 15 years ago

Tell us more. About Ecuador, I mean.

[quote] one of the more traditional countries of South America.

I’ve seen it described as the monastery of Latin America.

r6 Damn, never heard that one before. Is it really that bad? I've googled it just now and see that the Catholic Church has been duking it out with the evangelicals (Pentecostals). That might sound amusing but just look at what's happened in Brazil...

Mr Gay Ecuador

r8 Fuck me, his shoulders go on forever!

R5, it's a gorgeous country -- with Amazon, Andes, and coast. And the Galapagos, of course. It's been one of the more safe and stable countries of South America, escaping the narco and insurgency problems which affected neighboring Colombia and Peru in the 80s and 90s.

They use the US$D as their currency and there are a lot of American and European retirees there. It's super cheap -- I would maybe retire there. The towns of Mindo, Baños, Cuenca, and Vilcabamba are my favorite. I know gay couples in all four places and I'm sure they're thrilled with this news!

They're walking to Texas for their honeymoon.

What does Mr. Gay Ecuador’s ass look like?

Looks like this.

Do ecuadorian men look exotic ? Never met anyone from that country.

He was actually the very first Mr Gay Ecuador. Good for him.

[quote] Looks like this.

Flat, but he looks good at R8 and R15.

Here's a nice article about the gay life in Ecuador. Mario looks super handsome.

R15, he is hot.

r16 This pic of him is killer.

He looks sicillian.

I know a few Ecuadorian guys - they tend to be incredibly beautiful...or butt ugly. No in between average guys...

Mindo is a little slice of cloudforest paradise -- good for outdoor activities, birdwatching, chocolate farm tours, or fans of orchids and butterflies. Just two hours west of Quito. Lovely climate, no humidity.

Ecuador also finally kicked Julian Assange's ass out of the embassy this year -- another reason to like them.😂

What great news. The Gays are scoring huge wins all over Latin America. Chile and Panama are probably next.

R24, I hope so!

R24 You forgot about Costa Rica. They are due to legalize gay marriage next year.

R24, Chile is overdue. Mexico is almost there I think -- it's a state-by-state thing, not dissimilar to how it was in the US before SCOTUS' ruling.

Yum R8, what is his name

r28 There's a whole article about him at r15.

Great news.

The fifth in South America to allow gay couples to wed.

The rulings really seem to be picking up: great news!

The Catholic church, Mormons, and evangelicals have been very strategic and poured millions of dollars into Mexico and Chile. I still don't know how Colombia sneaked out on them. lol Thus far gays have won every court battle in Mexico and gay marriage is starting to happen in municipalities where the governors are putting up a fight. Religious groups are only delaying what is clearly an issue they have lost.

The Catholic church did score a win in Chile over abortion, which is the other great battle looming in Latin America, but even then it feels like religious groups are on borrowed time. It's a generational thing, as Latin Gen Z and Millennials start becoming larger voting blocks in Latin American elections, gay marriage will keep scoring wins and abortion laws will start falling down.

Ecuador shows the momentum is clearly with gay rights. May I also say that HRC have practically abandoned Lat. American gay advocacy groups? They only came down to Colombia after gay marriage became legal and only to take photos and practically take some symbolic credit for it. Ughh, they are awful.

[quote] May I also say that HRC have practically abandoned Lat. American gay advocacy groups?

Hillary's not running so get over it.

Woo hoo!

Enhorabuena, hermanas ecuatorianas!

[Quote]I studied abroad there 15 years ago

Which broad was she?

R33, great post. Evangelicals and Pentecostals, IMO, pose the greatest threat. They're very aggressive in proselytizing and trying to recruit in the poorest regions of Latin America (like Bolivia, Peru, parts of Central America) and they're good at it too -- providing food pantries, preaching about 'saving souls.'

So it's great to see that people and governments are rejecting their anti-gay message, especially in a more conservative country like Ecuador.

[quote]May I also say that HRC have practically abandoned Lat. American gay advocacy groups?

Why wouldn't they? They just scored a pretty much definitive victory with that 2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling.

[quote]On 8 January 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that the American Convention on Human Rights mandates and requires the recognition of same-sex marriage. The ruling was fully binding on Costa Rica and set binding precedent in other Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Ecuador. The Ecuador Constitutional Court held that the IACHR January 2018 ruling is fully binding on Ecuador and takes precedence over Ecuadorian domestic law.

That's a huge judicial victory that not even those of us here in Europe living under the ECHR jurisdiction have been able to secure just yet. So it would make more sense for the HRC to help us rather than the gays in Latin America.