A court in Ecuador has issued a historic ruling in favor of marriage equality.

Judges Iliana Vallejo and Ruth Alvarez, in the Family, Women, Children and Adolescents Court, ruled last week in favor of two lesbian couples who were denied their applications for marriage licenses by the Civil Registry.

The denials came after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of same-sex marriage earlier this year, in a decision affecting 20 countries, including Ecuador.

The decision included a declaration that the couples, who were represented by the Feminist Legal Collective of Cuenca, should be allowed to wed right away.

Attorney Catalina Mendoza called the couples and the judges “brave people” who are “making history,” El Tiempo reports.

The Civil Registry has appealed the decision, but that does not suspend the ruling or interfere with the ability of same-sex couples to wed, legal expert Sebastián López explained. Read more via New Now Next

Boda LGBTI espera sentencia

Aunque el Registro Civil impugnó la decisión, un juzgado de Cuenca dio paso al pedido de dos parejas homosexuales de contraer matrimonio, por lo que, una vez se emita la sentencia por escrito, debe celebrar la boda.

Es una acción de protección planteada por las parejas, bajo la asesoría del Colectivo Jurídico Feminista de Cuenca, que la activista Catalina Mendoza ve como un precedente importante en la lucha por la legalización del matrimonio igualitario en el país.

El constitucionalista Sebastián López explica que la apelación del Registro Civil no suspende la sentencia, una excepción que se hace en materia de derechos, por lo que el Registro Civil debe crear el procedimiento para la boda, y, “aunque lo óptimo sería una reforma al Código Civil, a la Constitución, o una nueva ley, esta no es necesaria para celebrar el matrimonio homosexual”. Read more via El Tiempo