In a decision published on 11 December, Bolivia recognises the “free union” between two people of the same sex – for the first time in the country’s history.

In a decision published on Friday, the Servicio de Registro Cívico (SERECI, Civil Registry) announced it would “provide for the registration of the free union between David Victor Aruquipa Perez and Guido Alvaro Montaño Duran”. This reverses an earlier decision by the authority in 2018. At that time, the authority had rejected the couple’s application to register their partnership, which has now lasted more than 11 years.

Friendship turned into love

It has been 12 years since 48-year-old business economist David Víctor Aruquipa Pérez and 45-year-old lawyer Guido Alvaro Montaño Durán first met. Both worked in an educational institution in La Paz, a city in the high plateau of the Andes in Bolivia. David and Guido became best friends fairly quickly, but they would never have dared to dream that they would one day become lovers, let alone go down in history as the first homosexual couple whose civil partnership was legally recognised by the Bolivian state.

After a few months of intimate friendship, David and Guido suddenly realised that there was something more – that they were in love with each other. From then on, Aruquipa Pérez and Montaño Durán had a formal relationship, telling their families and friends. At some point, the need arose to officially seal the love they felt for each other – not out of a need for acceptance, but so as not to live in a relationship of false appearances, as El Télegrafo quotes the two of them.

Years of struggle for recognition

What followed was a years-long legal battle for the recognition of their marriage-like civil partnership. The Bolivian authorities had initially argued that Bolivian law did not provide for same-sex partnerships. According to Article 63 of the constitution, marriage is limited to the union between a woman and a man, SERECI ruled in 2018.

It was only before the Constitutional Court that the couple was proven right. In their ruling, the judges of the Constitutional Court referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). The latter had declared in 2017 that “it is the duty of states to recognise the family ties of people of the same sex and to protect them”.

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Equality precedent

The Ombudsman, Nadia Cruz, was pleased with the decision to “register the free association of citizens David Aruquipa and Guido Montaño”. She said the precedent strengthened

“the principle of equality before the law and will allow these and other same-sex couples to exercise their rights without discrimination.”

Bolivian LGBTIQ* organisations also speak of a new era. The constitutional ruling and decision have the potential to move Bolivia

“into a scenario of greater respect for diversity rights, an end to discrimination and equality for all inhabitants of our country”.

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