Vocal Marriage Opponent Loses Costa Rica Presidential Election

A vocal opponent of marriage rights for same-sex couples on Sunday lost the second round of Costa Rica's presidential election.
Official results indicate Fabricio Alvarado lost to Carlos Alvarado by a 39-61 percent margin.
Fabricio Alvarado — a Pentecostal minister, singer and former journalist who is a member of the National Restauration Party — and Carlos Alvarado of the leftist Citizen's Action Party won the election's first round on Feb. 4. Fabricio Alvarado and Carlos Alvarado, who are not related, faced off on Sunday because neither of them received at least 40 percent of the vote in the election's first round.
Sunday's election took place less than three months after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a landmark ruling that recognized same-sex marriage and transgender rights.
Outgoing Costa Rican Vice President Ana Helena Chacón subsequently announced her government would comply with the ruling. Fabricio Alvarado made his opposition to the decision a centerpiece of his campaign.
Carlos Alvarado publicly supports marriage rights for same-sex couples. He is also a member of outgoing President Luis Guillermo Solís' party.
"I am very happy," Margarita Salas, a Costa Rican LGBT rights advocate, told the Washington Blade on Sunday after Carlos Alvarado won the election. "Costa Rica today gave its strong and decisive support to human rights."
Other LGBT rights advocates throughout Latin America also celebrated Carlos Alvarado's victory.
"Costa Rica won," wrote Andrea Ayala, executive director of Espacio de Mujeres Lesbianas por la Diversidad, an LGBT advocacy group in El Salvador, on her Facebook page.
This article originally appeared in the Washington Blade and is made available in partnership with the National LGBT Media Association.