A Peruvian court has ruled in favor of a lesbian couple who sued the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status for refusing to register their marriage, which took place in Miami.
Susel Paredes and Gracia María Aljovín were married in a civil ceremony in Florida in August 2016 and tried to have that legal union entered into the civil registry in Peru. But local authorities refused, based on Article 234 of Peru’s Civil Code, which defines “Marriage” as a union voluntarily entered into by a male and a woman.
The Superior Justice Court of the 11th Constitutional branch ruled that since the couple was married abroad, and Peru’s Constitution does not expressly or tacitly restrict marriage between persons of the same sex, the legal criteria must redound to international norms set by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
The 18-page decision went on to cite a 2017 advisory opinion by the Inter-American Court that member states must respect and protect family bonds “that may derive from a relationship of a same-sex couple.”
The court also noted that Peru is out of step with many of its regional neighbors, including Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia, which have established same-sex marriage rights, as well as Ecuador and Chile, which recognize same-sex civil unions.
“Those of us who constitute a majority of heterosexual people must assume these changes with tolerance, evolving the legal concepts, while the rights and the concepts themselves are extended,” the ruling stated. “Societies must advance towards organizations and States of democratic tolerance, where minorities may accede to rights under equal conditions and without suffering, due to a certain condition, situations or norms that discriminate against them.”
Paredes was an actress, well known in the 1990s for roles in television soap operas. She joined Mayor Susana Villaran’s administration of Lima in 2011-2014 as head of inspection and oversight. More recently she has gained national attention for her work as a municipal official in Lima’s La Victoria district, successfully bringing order to the Gamarra garment sector.
“I think it is a great step for human rights in Peru,” Paredes told cable news network Canal N after the ruling was released Thursday night. “Love is love and rights are for everyone, as well as for the LGBT community.”
She added that if Peru’s Congress is unwilling or unable to legislate in favor of LGBT rights, the other route is “through strategic litigation and that is what my partner and I have done and we won the initial ruling.”
Now the case must go to Peru’s highest court, the Constitutional Tribunal, she said, before declaring: “Be bold and come out of the closet!”
