Country Overview
Bolivia
At a glance
Same-sex Relations for Men Legal Throughout the Country?
Same-sex Relations for Women Legal Throughout the Country?
Legal Gender Recognition Possible?
LGBTI Orgs Able to Register?
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Bolivia has made progress on LGBTIQ issues. The 2009 Constitution explicitly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2010, the government criminalized hate crimes and hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2016, the government created a path for legal gender recognition, but a 2017 court ruling imposed some limitations on this right, including a veto so that trans people could not marry, adopt, or benefit from gender quotas in elections, as well as limits on confidentiality guarantees. Civil unions for same-sex couples in Bolivia have been legal since 2023, when a ruling of the Plurinational Constitutional Court of Bolivia legalized this right. However, adoption for same-sex couples is not possible.
*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.
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