Costa Rica Accidentally Approves Gay Marriage, President Supported

What a great surprise for gays and supporters of equality in Costa Rica.

Earlier this week, the Central America country passed a bill that is being called for a veto by Conservatives for its apparent language that offers a path to legalized same-sex marriage — even though they were the ones who voted on its passage.

They claim to not have recognized the included language that could be interpreted to change the definition of marriage. “The language” confers social rights and benefits of a civil union, free from discrimination,

José María Villalta, a lawmaker from San José and a member of the leftist Broad Front Party, inserted the language into the bill. He attached the measure to a reform of the Law of Young People, which covers various social services for young people and laws governing marriage.

“During the discussion in the first debate, we explained that the Law of Young People should be interpreted with this sense of opening to gays and no one objected,” Villalta said.

Conservatives tried to get President Laura Chinchilla to veto the bill, but she said no (pause for applause).

“We’re going to go forward and will sign this law. We understand that the debate is over how some interpret the law and this alone is not sufficient for the executive to veto the law,” Chinchilla told reporters.

The president added that the only members of government equipped to interpret the law are judges and lawmakers. Costa Rica would be the first country in Central America to approve same-sex civil unions if the provision’s legal interpretation holds up in court according to the Tico Times.