Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ecuador since 8 July 2019 in accordance with a Constitutional Court ruling issued on 12 June 2019 that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional under the Constitution of Ecuador. The court held that the Constitution required the government to license and recognise same-sex marriages. It focused its ruling on an advisory opinion issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in January 2018 that member states should grant same-sex couples "accession to all existing domestic legal systems of family registration, including marriage, along with all rights that derive from marriage". The ruling took effect upon publication in the government gazette on 8 July.
Ecuador was the fifth country in South America to allow same-sex couples to marry, after Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia, but adoption by married couples remains restricted to opposite-sex couples. Ecuador has also recognized same-sex civil unions since 2008.
Civil unions.
Passage and referendum.
Since the early 20th century, opposite-sex civil unions, available after two years of cohabitation, have been granted the same rights as civil marriages. In the late 19th century, the liberal revolution led by Eloy Alfaro established the separation of church and state in Ecuador. Since the consolidation of this separation in the first decades of the 20th century, only civil marriage or unions have been recognized by the state.
During debate over the 2008 Ecuadorian Constitution, LGBT organizations campaigned for the inclusion of same-sex civil unions, which were eventually included in Article 68 of the Constitution, despite protests from the Catholic Church and evangelical groups. Under the text of the new Constitution, the only difference between same-sex and opposite-sex unions is that adoption by same-sex couples is not permitted; adoption rights are identical for civil unions and civil marriages, but do not extend to same-sex unions. Protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation had already been introduced in the 1998 Constitution, Ecuador being among the first three countries in the world to adopt such a constitutional protection, alongside South Africa and Fiji.
President Rafael Correa said he wanted the document to allow same-sex unions, saying that "the profoundly humanistic position of this government is to respect the intrinsic dignity of everyone, of every human being, independently of their creed, race, sexual preference. We will give certain guarantees to stable gay couples but matrimony will continue being reserved for a man, a woman and the family. Every person has dignity, that's to say, one must respect a person independently of their sexual preference. Be careful not to deny employment to someone because of their sexual preference. That is discrimination, that is unconstitutional."
The Constitution was approved in a referendum by 69.46% of voters, and was officially recorded on 20 October 2008. The first same-sex union was recognised in August 2009. Article 68 of the Constitution states:
 "(The stable and monogamous union between two persons, free of matrimonial bond, who form a de facto couple, for the duration and under the conditions and circumstances that the law provides, will generate the same rights and obligations as held by families built through marriage. Adoption will pertain only to couples of different sexes.)"
Subsequent changes.
Although civil unions were legalised in the 2008 Constitution, they were not formally recognized in the vital records until 15 September 2014, when the Directorate General of the Civil Registry began registering them nationwide. Three cities, Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca, had already begun registering civil unions prior to September 2014. On 21 April 2015, the National Assembly approved a bill codifying same-sex civil unions into statutory law by a vote of 89–1. The bill also removed the requirement to have lived together for two years in order to enter into a civil union. President Rafael Correa signed it into law on 19 June 2015. The law changed article 222 of the Civil Code to read: "The stable and monogamous union between two persons, free of matrimonial bond, of legal age, who form a de facto couple, generates the same rights and obligations as held by families built through marriage and leads to a community property."
Statistics.
By January 2018, 15,992 civil unions had been registered in Ecuador, of which 3% were to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage.
Under Article 67 of the 2008 Constitution, "marriage is the union between man and woman based on the free consent of the parties and their equal rights, obligations and legal capacity." However, the Constitutional Court ruled that this article was unenforceable and void on 12 June 2019, legalizing same-sex marriage in Ecuador. The court focused its ruling on an advisory opinion issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in January 2018 that member states should grant same-sex couples "accession to all existing domestic legal systems of family registration, including marriage, along with all rights that derive from marriage".
Background.
During a series of interviews with local newspaper "El Universo" before the 2013 general election, two of the eight presidential candidates expressed their support for same-sex marriage: leftist candidates Alberto Acosta Espinoza from the Plurinational Unity of the Lefts, and Norman Wray from the Ruptura 25 movement. President Rafael Correa did not participate in the interviews. However, in a 2011 interview for Radio France Internationale, Correa said that he "couldn't accept" same-sex marriage or abortion, although when asked if he would oppose legislation legalizing either of them, he referred only to abortion when saying that he would certainly oppose it. On 17 February 2013, President Correa was reelected by a wide margin. On 23 May 2013, he reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage.
On 4 March 2016, Azuay's provincial government unanimously approved an ordinance allowing symbolic same-sex marriages. The ordinance allowed same-sex couples to register their marriage with the provincial civil registry, but the marriages were only symbolic with no legal effect. The first symbolic marriage was held in late June 2016 in Cuenca.
Ahead of the 2017 presidential election, Paco Moncayo, candidate for the Democratic Left, called for a national debate on the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The election was won by Lenín Moreno, candidate for the PAIS Alliance, whose position on same-sex marriage was unknown, as he had refused to answer questions on the issue from activist Pamela Troya.
Legalization process.
On 5 August 2013, LGBT groups launched a nationwide campaign under the name "Matrimonio Civil Igualitario" ("Equal Civil Marriage"), seeking to legalize same-sex marriage in Ecuador. A marriage petition was launched by activist Pamela Troya and her partner at the civil registry office in Quito. The petition was rejected days later, citing the Constitution and Civil Code. The couple announced on 8 August that they would file a lawsuit asking a judge to order the civil registry to marry them. The lawsuit was filed on 13 August 2013, for review by the Constitutional Court, and focused heavily on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' decision in "Atala Riffo and Daughters v. Chile", which held that sexual orientation is a suspect classification.
On 26 August 2013, another couple applied to be married at the civil registry office in Guayaquil. The couple, Santiago Vinces and Fernando Saltos, marched through the city to the civil registry office with a convoy of activists and supporters, including actress Érika Vélez. Their marriage petition was denied three days later, citing the same reasons given to the first couple.
2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights advisory opinion.
On 9 January 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued an advisory opinion that parties to the American Convention on Human Rights should grant same-sex couples "accession to all existing domestic legal systems of family registration, including marriage, along with all rights that derive from marriage". The advisory opinion states that:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;The State must recognize and guarantee all rights derived from a family bond between persons of the same sex in accordance with the provisions of Articles 11.2 and 17.1 of the American Convention. (...) in accordance with articles 1.1, 2, 11.2, 17, and 24 of the American Convention, it is necessary to guarantee access to all the existing figures in domestic legal systems, including the right to marry. (..) To ensure the protection of all the rights of families formed by same-sex couples, without discrimination with respect to those that are constituted by heterosexual couples.
Ecuador ratified the American Convention on Human Rights on 28 December 1977 and recognized the court's jurisdiction on 4 July 1984. LGBT activists urged the government to abide by the advisory opinion, believing that Ecuador is required to recognise same-sex marriages under Article 417 of the Constitution:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;The international treaties ratified by Ecuador shall be subject to the provisions set forth in the Constitution. In the case of treaties and other international instruments for human rights, principles for the benefit of the human being, the nonrestriction of rights, direct applicability, and the open clause as set forth in the Constitution shall be applied.
2019 Constitutional Court ruling.
Following the IACHR opinion, two same-sex couples applied at the civil registry office in Cuenca for marriage licenses. After both couples were rejected, they filed separate lawsuits arguing that the refusal was discriminatory, unconstitutional and a violation of the American Convention on Human Rights. Citing the IACHR opinion, two family judges ruled in favour of the couples on 29 June 2018. The judges ordered the civil registry to immediately begin registering same-sex marriages, but their decision was stayed pending appeal. The two cases had the support of the Azuay Government. On 10 September 2018, the Labor Chamber of the Provincial Court of Justice overturned both decisions, ruling that the issue of same-sex marriage should be decided by the National Assembly or the Constitutional Court.
On 28 July 2018, the president of the Constitutional Court, Alfredo Ruiz Guzmán, said he believed that a majority of judges on the court were in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage.
On 29 March 2019, a public hearing was held to determine whether the IACHR advisory opinion on same-sex marriage was applicable to Ecuador, and whether it could be applied without a constitutional amendment or modifications to the Civil Code and the "Organic Law of Identity and Civil Data Management" (). The case had been accepted for review by the Constitutional Court on 6 March 2019, following a request from the judges of the Provincial Court of Justice of Pichincha to review the legality of the civil marriage of Efraín Soria and Javier Benalcázar. The Constitutional Court had 45 days to issue a response and resolve the case. On 20 May 2019, another public hearing was held on a different same-sex marriage case.
A ruling in the cases was originally set for 4 June 2019, but was delayed as the judges were not able to reach a decision after several hours of discussion, and announced they would continue to convene over the following days. The court issued two rulings in favour of the couples, both by a 5–4 margin, on 12 June 2019. In the first ruling, the court held that the IACHR opinion is fully binding on Ecuador and takes precedence over Ecuadorian domestic law. In its second ruling, the court re-wrote article 81 of the Civil Code, as well as article 52 of the identity and civil data management law, to remove gender-specific terms which implied that married spouses were of opposite sexes. The court ruled that Article 67 of the Constitution must be interpreted "in the sense that most favors the full validity of rights". On 14 June, the president of the Constitutional Court, Hernán Salgado Pesantes, said in a press conference that a constitutional amendment was not necessary to implement the decision, and that the National Assembly should reform the secondary laws as soon as possible. The decision also allows same-sex couples to marry in Ecuadorian embassies and diplomatic offices worldwide, as long as one partner is a citizen of Ecuador. The rulings took effect upon publication in the government gazette, the "Registro Oficial", on 8 July 2019. Article 81 of the Civil Code was amended to read: "Marriage is a solemn contract by which two persons are united in order to live together and mutually help each other."
Human rights groups and LGBT activists welcomed the ruling, with Christian Paula of the Pakta Foundation, who had provided legal advice to several of the couples, saying that the ruling "implies that Ecuador is more egalitarian, more just than yesterday, and that it recognizes that human rights must fit all people without discrimination". In particular,