Bolivia recorded its first-ever same-sex marriage on Friday, August 7, after Fabiana Banzer and Scarlett Rocha won a legal battle that lasted over three years. While the court ruling represents a historic milestone for LGBTQ+ rights, the country still does not recognise same-sex marriage in their legal framework.
Banzer and Rocha applied for a civil marriage on October 12, 2022, in Santa Cruz, the country’s most populous city. LGBTQ+ rights organisation IGUAL Bolivia supported the couple through a lengthy administrative process that culminated in two constitutional injunctions.
The organisation argued that, according to an advisory opinion issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), all countries that have signed the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights, including Bolivia, should grant same-sex couples “accession to all existing domestic legal systems of family registration, including marriage, along with all rights that derive from marriage.”
The lengthy legal process ended in victory when the couple obtained recognition and legal protection from the Bolivian state.
“Scar and I have been together for more than four years,” Banzer wrote on a Facebook post following the court ruling. “It makes me very happy to announce to our family and friends that after a legal fight of three years and 10 months we have finally been able to access civil marriage as two women.”
While this legal victory represents a historic development, same-sex marriage is still not legal in Bolivia. The country’s constitution defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, de facto excluding same-sex couples.
Banzer and Rocha’s marriage was recorded through the courts on an individual basis rather than through legislative reform. While the case won’t automatically lead to the recognition of same-sex marriage in Bolivian law, it sets an important legal precedent for future cases, opening the door to similar challenges.
In 2020, David Aruquipa and Guido Montaño became the first LGBTQ+ couple to have their free union registered after successfully challenging the State. Since that case, dozens of same-sex unions have been registered in the country.
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