Costa Rica’s new president hosted a small ceremony during which a rainbow flag was raised level with the country’s national flag on the lawn of the Casa Presidencial May 16, the eve of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, The Tico Times reports.
President Luis Guillermo Solís told a gathering of LGBT advocates that anti-gay discrimination runs counter to “the letter and spirit of Costa Rica’s constitution” and the government’s pledge to adhere to the human rights instruments it had signed.
“When we say all Costa Ricans, we mean all, without exclusion, without violence, without harassment in absolute respect for the rights of each one,” the Times quotes Solís as saying.
A small group of protesters showed up outside the Casa Presidencial to counter the government’s show of support, one man bearing a placard that read, “Don’t mess with Costa Rica and even less with God.”
But Solís, who went over to the demonstrators to greet them, repeated his message that as leader he is working on behalf of all Costa Ricans.
Even as a civil unions bill is being considered by the country’s legislature, the Solís government has reportedly failed to support gay marriage or civil unions, the report says.
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