Costa Rica gets Gay-marriage rights boosts after Carlos Alvarado’s win
The subject of gay marriages has always loomed in political campaigns. While most presidential aspirants try to evade the question of whether they stand for gay marriages or not, Carlos Alvarado made it known that he stands for gay marriages.
In a presidential contest that brought two bigwigs on opposite sides on matters gay marriage, the win by a pro-gay candidate hugely speaks of what Costa Ricans stand for.
Carlos Alvarado, who is a popular fiction writer among Costa Ricans and also a former minister won the presidential seat with a staggering 61% from 95% of the polling stations.
Quest to ensure a tolerant Costa Rica
Though he might have had other campaign agendas, Alvarado’s owes his huge win to the commitment to create a more tolerant Costa Rica. In his own words; “My commitment is to a government for everybody, in equality and liberty for a more prosperous future, There is much more that unites us than divides us”
His opponent, Alvarado Munoz, who forged a campaign portraying him as a strictly conservative faithful accepted the results and sent a congratulatory message to winner. The 43 year old former TV presenter promised to work together with Alvarado for the prosperity of Costa Rica.
Munoz is said to have lost his presidential bid by maintaining that he will prohibit gay marriages and stop women’s access to abortion to uphold the social values of the Costa Rican people.
What is in this win for the LGBT community?
The winner hasn’t really began working, and we can’t predict what he is going to do, but we can be sure that gays now have a better space than they would have if Munoz won. Costa Rica is growing more tolerant and the people are getting their freedom to choose their partners without cultural and social barriers.
A message to The World
This win by a pro-gay president sends the world a message that liberation and tolerance to people’s sexual inclinations is a key pointer in political campaigns. Now, Costa Rica is being seen as a more tolerant society than even USA where Donald Trump had earlier exhibited contempt for blacks and the LGBT community.
Also, other countries who are just about to have presidential elections have watched and learnt from the Costa Rican elections and may soon use it as a ground to gain following.
The most important effect is that leaders are finally realizing that the LGBT community have rights too, and form a big percentage of the population they seek votes from.
We can only sit and watch how this will affect elections in Latin America this year, but, it is now clear that societies are becoming more and more tolerant.
