The IACHR has issued a press release welcoming the laws and measures approved by the US and several states of Latin America while encouraging them to continue their efforts to ensure the human rights of LGBTI persons. In the past few months, countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay have passed legislation with regard to the rights of lesbian gay, bisexual, trans and intersex persons.

Among those positive changes, Ecuador approved the “Organic Law of Identity and Civil Data Management,” allowing individuals over 18 to change their name on their ID as well as indicate their “gender” instead of their “sex”. Similarly, the “Gender Identity Law” was enacted in Bolivia and the Human Rights Commission of the Chilean Senate approved changes to a gender identity bill, giving the authority to the Civil Registry Service to amend the identification documents of trans adults.

With regards to violence prevention and discrimination, Peru’s ministerial resolution establishing guidelines for LGTB persons as part of the National Program against Family and Sexual Violence has been approved and the Ministry of Justice and Peace of Costa Rica has adopted a circle to prevent discrimination, declaring the ministry to be a space free of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the labor sector, Mexico City’s Legislative Assembly urged the Head of Government to instruct city offices to hire trans persons to fill at least 1 percent of staff positions and the U.S. Department of Defense announced the adoption of new regulations allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military without discrimination.

Finally, regarding to non-discrimination within the family sphere, Costa Rica decided to extend survivor’s benefits to widows or widowers of same-sex partners across all retirement systems under the national budget; and on April 7 the Constitutional Court of Colombia approved same-sex marriage.

Read the full press release here.