Activists warn Costa Rica has regressed 20 years in LGBTIQ+ rights.
2026 June 8
In a feature published on June 8, 2026, the Costa Rican daily La Nación documented the alarms raised by activists over the sustained rollback of LGBTIQ+ and trans rights in the country. Former LGBTI Commissioner Ricardo Sossa summarized the concern bluntly: “We have gone back about 20 years in rights acquired in Costa Rica.”
The article compiles the institutional measures that have eroded protections for trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse people: the revocation of Executive Decree 38,999 (the anti-discrimination guidelines), the elimination of the Presidential Advisory Committee for Social Inclusion, the removal of the LGBTI Commissioner position from the Presidential House, the withdrawal of cultural-interest status from the Diversity (Pride) march, Costa Rica’s exit from the regional OAS LGBTIQ+ forum, and the elimination of anti-bullying protocols in schools.
It also highlights specific harms to trans people, including barriers to trans name changes at the Civil Registry since 2022, and recalls that the National Insurance Institute withdrew support from the trans organization Transvida in 2022, as reported by trans activist Camila Schumacher. The piece notes the firing of former Commissioner Ricardo Sossa and Culture Minister Nayuribe Guadamuz over the 2024 Pride march controversy, and cites a 2025 report documenting a 344% increase in hate-speech attacks targeting LGBTIQ+ individuals.