One lesbian couple’s winding path to marriage leads to a historic first in Bolivia

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (AP) — Like many newlyweds, Fabiana Justiniano and Scarlett Rocha grow misty-eyed when they reminisce about their wedding day: racing from the civil registry to get their hair and makeup done, dancing in their white dresses late into the night with more than a hundred friends and relatives.

“We didn’t expect it to be so beautiful,” Justiniano, 29, said last Saturday from the couple’s home in Bolivia’s eastern city of Santa Cruz, which they share with three dogs and four cats. “It was really, really great.”

Their Aug. 7 wedding was more than a personal milestone, it was a political one, too.

It was Bolivia’s first same-sex civil marriage — the culmination of a grueling legal struggle in a religiously and socially conservative nation whose constitution defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Although the court decision allowing their civil marriage applies only to them, experts said their victory could set a precedent for other Bolivian couples.

“When I saw the marriage certificate on the table, I felt this weight being lifted,” said Rocha, also 29. “This sense of peace came, where I was able to let down my guard and really enjoy what it means to be married.”

While Bolivia isn’t alone in its stance across predominantly Roman Catholic South America, the continent’s most populous countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, have allowed same-sex couples to marry for years. Central America and the Caribbean remain more conservative on LGBTQ+ rights, with fewer legal protections for same-sex couples.

Legal challenges mounted by gay and lesbian couples — like the one brought by Justiniano and Rocha — have helped advance marriage equality around the world, from the United States to Nepal.

“What they have done is offer hope for other couples to have their marriages recognized,” said Mateo Rodrigo, a lawyer with Igual Bolivia, the LGBTQ+ legal advocacy group that represented the couple. “We believe change is inevitable.”

Their battle began nearly four years ago, when authorities denied the women a marriage license and they turned to the courts.

Justiniano, a psychologist, and Rocha, a neuroscientist, fell in love after meeting through mutual friends in Santa Cruz in early 2022. Soon, they were talking marriage. No same-sex couple had ever married in Bolivia, but a traditional marriage was what they both wanted.

“We wanted to fight for marriage because it had always been part of our life plan,” said Rocha, a Bolivian-American born in Hollywood, Florida, who grew up between both countries.

By then, some gay and lesbian couples in Bolivia were seeking to formalize their relationships through “uniones libres,” or “free unions,” a legal status for partners who live together without marrying. In theory, such unions carry the same legal and financial rights as marriage. But in practice, when same-sex couples try to exercise those rights, they tend to face discrimination and end up mired in bureaucracy, lawyers say.

Justiniano and Rocha wanted the greater social recognition and security enjoyed by married heterosexual couples — and, particularly for Rocha, confidence that their relationship would be recognized if they moved to the U.S.

When they applied for a marriage license in Santa Cruz, they were rebuffed, as expected.

But their lawyers found an opening in Bolivia’s constitution, which states that international treaties, especially those dealing with human rights, supersede national law.

They cited an advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, arguing that states should offer same-sex couples all legal protections afforded to heterosexual couples, including marriage rights.

“We expected a difficult process, but honestly, we never imagined it would take this long,” Justiniano said, holding Rocha’s hand as they recalled years of shuttling between government offices and courthouses, chasing down obscure paperwork and parsing contradictory instructions. For months at a time, the process stopped cold.

“There were so many obstacles. There was so much discrimination,” she said.

On March 13, more than three years and two lawsuits later, a constitutional tribunal in La Paz, the administrative capital, sided with the couple, finding that the civil registry had discriminated against them.

Rocha emerged stunned from the six-hour hearing. “She called me right away. Her voice was trembling and she told me, ‘If I understand what just happened, I think we did it,’” Justiniano said. “I was like, ‘So, can we get married tomorrow?’”

The tribunal ordered authorities to issue their marriage licenses within 10 days. It took another five months.

Their marriage, now legally recognized throughout Bolivia, could lead other same-sex couples to follow, officials say.

“This is an important precedent because, just as these two women in Santa Cruz were able to formalize their marriage, there will surely be other couples who come forward seeking the same recognition,” said Paola Tapia, a senior official at Bolivia’s Ombudsman’s Office, an independent government entity tasked with protecting human rights in the country.

Already, other same-sex couples have approached Igual Bolivia about getting married, the advocacy group said.

Because their lawsuit concerned a violation of constitutional rights, the case now heads to Bolivia’s Constitutional Court for review. Justiniano and Rocha’s marriage will stand no matter how the court rules, but if the country’s highest court ratifies the lower court’s ruling, it would bolster the legal basis for other same-sex couples seeking to marry and bring Bolivia in line with its more progressive neighbors, Tapia said.

Cooking fettuccine in their kitchen a week after their wedding, Justiniano and Rocha reflected on what it meant to be the first same-sex couple to officially marry in this nation of 12 million.

“This process may have begun about us, but in the end, it's about rights," Rocha said. "It's about people protecting their love.”

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

A photo of newlyweds Scarlett Rocha and Fabiana Justiniano hangs in their home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Newlyweds Scarlett Rocha, right, and Fabiana Justiniano serve fettuccine at their home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Newlyweds Scarlett Rocha, right, and Fabiana Justiniano hold hands in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Newlyweds Scarlett Rocha, right, and Fabiana Justiniano walk their dogs in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Newlyweds Scarlett Rocha, right, and Fabiana Justiniano pose for a photo at their home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Iran on Thursday dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’ s threats of economic pain and isolation, while the U.K and other nations condemned Israel over a controversial settlement project.

In Gaza City, a mass funeral was held for 50 people killed in Israeli airstrikes nearly three years ago but whose remains were just recovered. Meanwhile, Syria’s foreign minister visited Pakistan, which is seeking to defuse tensions between the United States and Iran.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Thursday. Full coverage can be found here.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has rejected the economic threats made against his country, saying that such “failed policies” will stir more hostility among Iranians and “bring more failures.”

Araghchi's comments came a few hours after President Donald Trump threatened “crushing economic measures” against Iran. Trump promised “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” but provided few details.

In a social media post, Araghchi maintained the threats aim to divert the attention of the U.S. public from domestic financial problems, adding that U.S. “economic terrorism threatens the global economy and the national sovereignty of countries around the world.”

Several countries condemned the latest development in a contentious Israeli settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two.

Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing issued a tender for constructing several compounds with more than 1,200 homes in total in an open tract of land east of Jerusalem. It’s the latest step in a project under consideration for more than two decades, which critics say would prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called the publication of the tender “an unacceptable and destructive act” and denounced “settler violence and terrorism.” In a statement released on Wednesday, he added that the British government “demanded an immediate reversal” and had summoned the Israeli chargé d’affaires.

Egypt and Jordan also condemned Israel’s move, which Cairo said would isolate east Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded on Thursday by defending “the historic right of the Jewish people to reestablish their national home in the Land of Israel — including in the area in question.” Saar criticized Britain’s government for “blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism.”

A mass funeral Thursday in Gaza City remembered 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the opening months of the Israel-Hamas war but whose remains were only recently recovered from under rubble.

Dozens of mourners carried the remains, draped in Palestinian flags, through debris-strewn streets before lowering them into graves. Some held portraits and posters with photos of the deceased.

“We were able to recover them after three years of war, after three years of anguish, pain and torture. We were able to recover them, and dignify them in their final resting place. We were able to pray over them and bury them,” said Lina Karam, who lost her father and other members of her family.

The 50 bodies were from three families who were killed in airstrikes in November and December 2023.

The nearly three-year war has killed more than 73,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of the toll.

Turkey has denied that a Turkish military delegation had visited an air base in northern Syria that was hit by Israeli airstrikes, and vowed to continue supporting Syria in its efforts to rebuild its military.

The Israeli strikes targeted the Abu Duhur base early on Tuesday, causing damage but no casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had attacked the base because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreed-upon “status quo in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.

Syrian officials have said that a Turkish delegation visited the base before the Israeli strike to review rehabilitation work underway there.

Syria's Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani arrived in Islamabad for talks expected to focus on regional issues, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The visit comes days after Israeli airstrikes targeted an air base in northern Syria, causing damage but no casualties.

Pakistani officials say the country's political and military leadership remains in contact with both Iran and United States over efforts to de-escalate tensions and push for the resumption of talks after a 60-day deadline under a June memorandum of understanding expired. The agreement was brokered by Pakistan with help from regional countries.

The bodies of two Pakistanis killed in last week’s Houthi attack on a Tanzanian-flagged commercial vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have been repatriated to Pakistan.

Six Pakistani sailors who were injured in the attack have also safely returned to the country, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in a post on X.

In this photo released by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, shakes hands with his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar before their meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)