Abstract
Sexual orientation and gender identity are legally-protected categories in international human rights law and in the law of many States. For the past two decades, States, regional, and the universal human rights systems have expanded the understanding of anti-discrimination law in ways that to many seemed unexpected. Until 2000, no country had legalized same-sex marriage. Less than twenty years later, more than two dozen countries recognize same-sex marriage and many more recognize same-sex civil unions. Along with the recognition of sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination, gender identity has also become a legally significant concept for human rights law. In Latin America, a region traditionally labeled as socially conservative, sexuality laws have also undergone unprecedented changes. Such legal developments cannot be understood without an examination of the role of Latin America’s human rights court—the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This Article discusses the development of sexual orientation and gender identity law by looking at the decisions of the Inter-American Court: Atala and Daughters v. Chile; Duque v. Colombia; Flor Freire v. Ecuador; and Advisory Opinion OC 24-17, concerning same-sex marriage and right to name change. The impact of these decisions demonstrates the quick nature in which the idea of sexual orientation and gender identity as a protected category has changed and developed in a short period of time.