Ecuador's decision to legalize same-sex marriage has topped a landmark week for LGBTQ+ rights after Botswana decriminalized gay sex and Bhutan took the first steps to do so, marking the 50th anniversary of the gay equality movement.
5 out of 9 judges in Ecuador's top court on Wednesday ruled in favor of two gay couples that sued after their request to be married was denied by the country's civil registry.
The Latin American nation is the 27th country in the world to allow same-sex marriage with the move coming during the annual gay Pride month and events to mark the 50th year of the Stonewall riots in New York which gave rise to the international movement for LGBTQ+ rights.
A day earlier Botswana's top court voted to decriminalize homosexuality and Bhutan's lower house voted to repeal a similar law which needs upper chamber approval. That would leave 68 nations where same-sex relations are illegal.
Despite the recent milestones, though, LGBTQ+ rights advocates cautioned that significant global challenges remain.
In May 2019, Kenya's high court upheld the country's ban on gay sex, so same-sex relations remain punishable by fourteen years in jail, and Brunei reversed a decision to impose death by stoning for gay sex after a global backlash.
Campaigns in several countries during parliamentary elections in the European Union in May 2019 were characterized by homophobic rhetoric including by Poland's Law and Justice Party and Spain's far-right Vox party challenging acceptance of LGBQT+ rights.
In the USA in January 2019, the Supreme Court lifted lower court rulings that blocked a Trump administration ban on transgender people from serving in the American military, allowing the policy to go into effect.
Campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights have been met with steep resistance, especially in countries where the influence of conservative religion sways politics in countries like Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
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