https://costarica.polivoxia.com/ An archive documenting transphobia and the state of trans rights in Costa Rica. https://costarica.polivoxia.com/costa-rica-rejects-gender-terminology-at-the-un-limiting-gender-to-two-sexes/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/costa-rica-rejects-gender-terminology-at-the-un-limiting-gender-to-two-sexes/Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 July 8 At a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Costa Rica’s delegation formally rejected the terms “reproductive violence”, “patriarchal masculinity” and “intersectionality”, arguing that these concepts hav... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/public-employees-union-rejects-presidents-claim-that-costa-rica-treats-lgbtiq-people-equally/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/public-employees-union-rejects-presidents-claim-that-costa-rica-treats-lgbtiq-people-equally/Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 June 9 The Diversity Section of the National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP), one of Costa Rica's largest unions, issued a public statement rejecting President Laura Fernández's assertion that the country is "up to date" on LGBTIQ+ rights and that all peop... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/activists-warn-of-lgbtiq-rights-backsliding-civil-registry-blocks-trans-name-changes/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/activists-warn-of-lgbtiq-rights-backsliding-civil-registry-blocks-trans-name-changes/Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 June 8 A La Nación investigation compiled the setbacks in LGBTIQ+ rights that activists and organizations say have accumulated in Costa Rica in recent years. Among the barriers that most directly affect trans people, the report highlights that the Civil Registry has been rej... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/activists-warn-costa-rica-has-regressed-20-years-in-lgbtiq-rights/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/activists-warn-costa-rica-has-regressed-20-years-in-lgbtiq-rights/Mon, 08 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +00002026 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... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/civil-registry-rejects-non-binary-name-changes-under-an-arbitrary-criterion/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/civil-registry-rejects-non-binary-name-changes-under-an-arbitrary-criterion/Sun, 07 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 June 07 An investigation by La Nación found that Costa Rica’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and its Civil Registry are rejecting a growing share of gender identity name change requests, applying a criterion the newspaper describes as arbitrary. Registry staff indivi... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/president-claims-costa-rica-is-up-to-date-on-rights-plans-to-pull-country-from-un-diversity-forums/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/president-claims-costa-rica-is-up-to-date-on-rights-plans-to-pull-country-from-un-diversity-forums/Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 June 3 President Laura Fernandez, defending the appointment of Boris Marchegiani as Costa Rica's representative to the United Nations, said she no longer wants the country to participate in international forums focused on rights and diversity, claiming Costa Rica is already... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/court-unable-to-serve-former-president-chaves-in-damages-suit-over-pride-march-declaration/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/court-unable-to-serve-former-president-chaves-in-damages-suit-over-pride-march-declaration/Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 May 28 A Costa Rican Administrative Court has been unable to locate former president Rodrigo Chaves to formally serve him with a civil lawsuit seeking to hold him personally liable for damages, stemming from his 2024 revocation of the cultural interest declaration granted to... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/president-insists-on-being-called-presidente-not-presidenta-to-reject-gender-ideology/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/president-insists-on-being-called-presidente-not-presidenta-to-reject-gender-ideology/Fri, 08 May 2026 11:00:00 +00002026 May 8 On the day she was sworn in as Costa Rica’s 50th head of state, Laura Fernández announced she would reject the feminine form “presidenta” and require that she be addressed as “presidente”, a decision she framed as a repudiation of what she called “gender ideology.” Fer... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/conservative-bill-seeks-to-reinstate-sex-of-birth-on-id-cards/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/conservative-bill-seeks-to-reinstate-sex-of-birth-on-id-cards/Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 April 30 Deputy Pablo Sibaja, of the conservative party Nueva República, filed a bill in the Legislative Assembly to reinstate the sex-of-birth field on Costa Rica’s national identity card (cédula). The Supreme Electoral Court had removed that field in 2018 to prevent stigma... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/coadyuvancia-filed-at-sala-iv-to-set-precedent-in-incofer-transphobia-case/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/coadyuvancia-filed-at-sala-iv-to-set-precedent-in-incofer-transphobia-case/Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 April 21 Attorney Jota Vargas Alvarado and human rights defender Janekeith Durán Barberena filed a formal coadyuvancia (third-party legal joinder) before Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV) in support of the amparo brought by a trans woman against the Instituto Cos... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/costa-rica-withdraws-from-oas-lgbti-core-group/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/costa-rica-withdraws-from-oas-lgbti-core-group/Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +00002026 April 7 The Costa Rican government announced its withdrawal from the LGBTI Core Group of the Organization of American States (OAS), ending a decade of active participation in the regional forum dedicated to advancing the human rights of LGBTIQ+ people. Foreign Minister Arnol... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/transphobic-discrimination-at-incofer-railway-station/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/transphobic-discrimination-at-incofer-railway-station/Tue, 07 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +00002026 April 7 A trans woman filed an amparo (constitutional protection) before Costa Rica's Sala IV after being a victim of transphobic discrimination at the Estación del Atlántico, operated by the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (INCOFER). Security personnel denied her a... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/anti-gender-agenda-dominates-costa-ricas-2026-elections/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/anti-gender-agenda-dominates-costa-ricas-2026-elections/Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +00002026 January 29 Ahead of Costa Rica's February 2026 general elections, a feminist analysis published by Ojalá examines how conservative and right-wing political forces have systematically attacked gender-based violence prevention and trans rights during the Chaves administration.... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/ombudsman-warns-of-escalating-gender-violence-crisis/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/ombudsman-warns-of-escalating-gender-violence-crisis/Thu, 27 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +00002025 November 27 Costa Rica's Ombudsman (Defensoría de los Habitantes) sounded the alarm on a deepening crisis of violence against women, with 33 femicides recorded in 2025, the highest number in over a decade. 2025 ended as the most violent year for women in the country, with 85... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/fundacion-arias-report-hate-crimes-against-lgbtq-community-in-costa-rica-face-data-gap-and-impunity/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/fundacion-arias-report-hate-crimes-against-lgbtq-community-in-costa-rica-face-data-gap-and-impunity/Wed, 29 Oct 2025 12:00:00 +00002025 October 29 The Fundación Arias para la Paz y el Progreso Humano (Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress) — the Costa Rican NGO founded in 1988 by former president and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Óscar Arias Sánchez — published an analysis titled "La Violencia que... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/laura-fernandez-now-president-signed-pact-with-evangelical-political-group-committing-to-natural-family-and-ministerial-appointments/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/laura-fernandez-now-president-signed-pact-with-evangelical-political-group-committing-to-natural-family-and-ministerial-appointments/Thu, 23 Oct 2025 12:00:00 +00002025 October 23 Laura Fernández, then presidential candidate for the chavista party Pueblo Soberano (PPSO) and now president of Costa Rica since May 8, 2026, signed a nine-page letter of commitments with evangelical pastors of the group "Foro Mi País" at the Hilton hotel in San J... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/un-report-hate-speech-against-lgbtq-surges-344-percent/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/un-report-hate-speech-against-lgbtq-surges-344-percent/Wed, 13 Aug 2025 08:00:00 +00002025 August 13 A UN report documented 2.1 million hate speech messages on Costa Rican social media, up 16% from 2024 and a staggering 400% increase since 2021. Hate directed at the LGBTIQ+ population saw the sharpest rise of all groups: a 344% increase in a single year, totaling... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/state-censorship-of-2025-pride-march-closing-event/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/state-censorship-of-2025-pride-march-closing-event/Sat, 28 Jun 2025 08:00:00 +00002025 June The Public Entertainment Control and Rating Commission (CCEP) revoked the "all audiences" classification for Orgullo Costa Rica's closing event for the 2025 Pride March, just days before the scheduled celebration. The decision came through official document CCEP-700-06-... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/trans-women-in-mens-prisons-isamar-moraless-testimony/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/trans-women-in-mens-prisons-isamar-moraless-testimony/Sun, 01 Jun 2025 08:00:00 +0000Feature Isamar Morales, a transgender woman, spent nearly four years incarcerated in Costa Rica's male prisons between 2006 and 2010. Her testimony exposes the brutal conditions trans women face in the country's penitentiary system. During her incarceration, Isamar witnessed a fe... https://costarica.polivoxia.com/lawmakers-reject-trans-rights-law/https://costarica.polivoxia.com/lawmakers-reject-trans-rights-law/Thu, 10 Apr 2025 18:30:00 +0000Voting 5 against and only 1 in favour, Costa Rica's lawmakers reject law 23809, "Ley de Reconocimiento de Identidades Trans, No Binarias, de Género Diverso e Intersex", effectively killing it. Calling it "weird ideology", linking it to pedophiles, accusing it of going against wom...