Same-sex marriage in Ecuador

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ecuador since July 8, 2019. This happened because the Constitutional Court decided that not allowing same-sex marriage went against the country's Constitution of Ecuador. The court said the government must allow and recognize marriages between people of the same sex.

The court's decision was based on advice from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in January 2018. That advice said countries should let same-sex couples marry and have all the same rights as married couples.

Ecuador was the fifth country in South America to allow same-sex marriage. The countries that allowed it before were Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Colombia. However, in Ecuador, only couples where one person is male and the other is female can adopt children. Since 2008, Ecuador has also allowed same-sex civil unions.

Civil unions

Main article: Same-sex unions in Ecuador

Since the early 1900s, opposite-sex civil unions have had the same rights as civil marriages after two years of living together. In the late 1800s, Ecuador made a big change by separating church and state rules.

Karla Vacacela and Priscila Rivera, the first Ecuadorian lesbian couple to register a civil union

When Ecuador made a new constitution in 2008, groups asked for same-sex civil unions to be allowed. This was added to the constitution, even though some people disagreed. Same-sex couples could form civil unions, but they could not adoption by same-sex couples. The constitution was approved by most voters.

In 2014, the government started officially recording these unions everywhere in Ecuador. In 2015, the rules were changed so couples did not need to live together for two years to form a union. By early 2018, about 3% of all civil unions were between same-sex couples.

Same-sex marriage

Under a rule in Ecuador’s 2008 Constitution, marriage was described as being only between a man and a woman. But in June 2019, the country’s top court decided this rule was unfair. The court said Ecuador must allow anyone to marry, no matter their gender. This decision came after a recommendation from an international group of human rights judges in January 2018. They said all countries should let same-sex couples marry and share all the same rights as married couples.

Background

Before the 2019 decision, some people in Ecuador tried to change the rules. In 2013, two presidential candidates said they supported letting same-sex couples marry. But the president at the time did not. In 2016, a local government allowed symbolic marriages for same-sex couples, but these did not have any real legal effect.

Legalization process

Santiago Vinces and Fernando Saltos on their way to the civil registry office in Guayaquil, as part of the Matrimonio Civil Igualitario campaign

In 2013, groups in Ecuador began asking for same-sex marriage to become legal. Two couples tried to get married but were turned down. In January 2018, an international group of judges said countries should let same-sex couples marry. In June 2019, Ecuador’s top court agreed. They changed the law so two people, no matter their gender, could marry. This decision became official on July 8, 2019. The first same-sex marriage happened soon after, on July 18, 2019.

Statistics

In the first year after same-sex marriage became legal, 122 such marriages took place. By May 2024, more than 1,000 same-sex marriages had happened in Ecuador. Some areas had not seen any same-sex marriages by then.

Public opinion

A survey from 2013 to 2014 found that only 16% of people in Ecuador supported marriages between people of the same sex, while most were against it. By 2017, support had grown to 33%.

A survey in July 2019 showed that about half of Ecuadorians were against such marriages, but younger people were more supportive. Only 16.7% of the youngest group, called Generation Z, were opposed, compared to over 60% of older groups.