Costa Rica

Costa Rica has made significant progress in advancing LGBTIQ people’s human rights in the last decade. Despite the fact that the Catholic Church holds significant cultural and social influence in the country, as it is its official religion, same-sex sexual relations have been legal since 1971, and Costa Rica became the first country in Central America to recognize marriage equality in 2020.

Since 2018, transgender individuals have been able to change their legal gender on official documents without requiring surgical or judicial intervention, upholding the principle of self-determination. Executive Decree N° 41173-MP, enacted in 2018, instructs public institutions to update official documents and records to reflect individuals’ self-perceived gender identity, thus promoting equality and nondiscrimination. Additionally, the state health system funds gender-affirming health care. 

In recent years, this progressive agenda has faced increasing resistance and paralysis driven by conservative political and religious actors, particularly in the context of debates such as the bill to eradicate so‑called “conversion therapies” and broader efforts to advance comprehensive protections for LGBTIQ people. The bill was introduced in 2018 and received a committee report in 2019, but it has not been debated by the full Legislative Assembly since then, effectively remaining stalled in Congress. 

This backlash has also taken concrete administrative form, as seen in the 2025 decision by education authorities to eliminate the Comprehensive Affectivity and Sexuality Education Program and the 2022 Protocol to Address Bullying Against LGBT Students in Educational Centers, dismantling key tools for inclusion in schools and signaling a broader attempt to roll back institutional safeguards against discrimination and violence.