Peruvian court opens door to legal recognition of same-sex couples By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Participants attend the LGBTQ+ Pride Parade, after being canceled for two years due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Lima, Peru June 25, 2022. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda/File Photo

LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s top court has ordered same-sex unions to be officially registered in public records, marking a victory for the LGBTQ community in a country reluctant to recognize gay couples.

The ruling, published on Friday, follows a case brought by a gay Peruvian citizen who sued the registry office for refusing to register his 2019 marriage abroad, saying his constitutional rights had been violated.

Office representatives were not immediately available for comment.

Peru is one of the few countries in Latin America that has not recognized same-sex marriage, although being gay is not illegal.

A 2021 survey by Ipsos found that 68% of people in Peru support same-sex marriage or other legal recognition. However, 61% disapprove of gay people in public office.

The Lima Court ordered the records office to “proceed with the registration” of the woman’s marriage, the Superior Court of Justice Lima said on Twitter.

The court declared “unapplicable” a 1984 Peruvian Civil Code article on family, which refers to marriage as a voluntary union between a man and a woman.

It is likely that there will be an appeal against the decision.

In 2020, a gay couple took Peru to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights after they lost their bid for recognition of their Mexican marriage certificate.

At that time, the constitutional court ruled that Peru’s civil registry only recognized marriages between a man and a woman.

Other countries in South America, including Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Colombia, have legalized gay marriage in recent years.