One-third of South American countries recognize same-sex marriage, with such countries as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay allowing same-sex couples to wed. Peru, however, does not legally recognize same-sex marriages, but many Peruvians are fighting to get it legalized, according to Openly News.
Susel Paredes, a fifty-five-year-old lawyer along with her wife, Gracia Aljovin, challenged a decision made by Peru’s national registry, Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil, or Reniec, that rejected Paredes’ and Aljovin’s request to validate their marriage. The reason for this is because same-sex marriages cannot legally be performed in Peru, so they can’t be celebrated. However, Reniec has appealed the ruling, which could potentially allow same-sex couples to marry.
The push to get same-sex marriages has been going on for four years, but so far no ruling has been able to win in court. This could partially be due to the fact that Peru is a Catholic-majority country, with certain Catholic leaders such as Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani saying that if same-sex marriage becomes legal, the courts would effectively say that God is wrong.
Paredes, who, incidentally is Catholic, is not giving up on this fight though. She has said that she is prepared to take this fight to Peru’s top court and if she and her wife lose the fight, she is willing to take it to the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights which could order Peru to heed its rulings.
While fighting for same-sex marriage, she is also urging LGBTQ Peruvians to come out, as she says that people can’t be truly happy if they live two lives.
It gives me hope that some people are passionate to this degree that they are willing to fight for marriage equality in the highest court of the country. Judging by the slow but steady increase in acceptance of LGBTQ people across the world, I am confident that Paredes will be able to get what same-sex marriage legalized and if not her, it will be someone else.
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Source: Openly News