[7] On 1 July 2018, President Carlos Alvarado Quesada issued a public apology to members of the LGBT community for the past persecution and discrimination they faced from the Costa Rican state.

He also spoke of the Stonewall riots, which led to the modern gay rights movement, and that Costa Rica had legalised homosexuality two years later, in 1971, but that discrimination and violence continued for the following decades.

"[10] In July 2010, the Constitutional Court ordered the TSE (Supreme Elections Tribunal) to halt a proposed referendum on the recognition of same-sex unions.

The recurso de amparo (appeal) was presented by lawyer Quirós Salazar, alleging that the referendum proposal violated the rights and freedoms of individuals.

The petition for a referendum had been organized by the Observatorio de la Familia, a religious conservative group, seeking to stop legislation to recognise civil unions for same-sex couples.

[18] On 19 March 2015, a bill to legalise same-sex marriage was introduced to the Legislative Assembly by Deputy Ligia Elena Fallas Rodríguez from the Broad Front.

The Superior Council of Notaries however refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples until the ban was explicitly struck down by the Supreme Court or repealed by the Legislative Assembly.

[21] The notary in question faced an investigation, but rejected any wrongdoing, stating that he respected international law and took a stand against discrimination when marrying the couple.

[31] Mario Núñez, a member of the Libertarian Movement Party, introduced a bill in the Legislative Assembly in 2007 to ban LGBT people and same-sex couples from adopting or having custody of children.

In a June 2020 interview, Jorge Urbina Soto, coordinator of the National Children's Institute (PANI, Patronato Nacional de la Infancia) stated that all prospective adoptive parents are evaluated for eligibility irrespective of sexual orientation or sex.

[36] The article reads: Who ever applies, arranges or practices discriminatory measures because of race, nationality, gender, age, political, religious or sexual option, social position, economic situation, marital status or by any suffering of health or disease, will be sanctioned with penalty of twenty to sixty days fines.

This amended article 112 of the Penal Code to provide twenty to thirty-five years' imprisonment for hate crimes motivated by the victim(s)' sexual orientation, among other characteristics, article 380 to provide one to three years' imprisonment for "excluding, segregating or distinguishing" a person on account of their sexual orientation in order to limit, restrict or deny their rights and freedoms, and article 386bis to provide three to ten years' imprisonment for inflicting physical or mental pain or suffering, intimidation, coercion or blackmail on the basis of sexual orientation.

Legislators also amended law n° 9343 on the labor market to read:[37] Any discrimination in the workplace against people for reasons of age, ethnicity, sex, religion, race, sexual orientation, marital status, political opinion, national ancestry, social origin, filiation, disability, union membership, economic situation, caregiver status, or any other analogous form of discrimination is prohibited.Prior to 2018, changing the sex assigned at birth was not allowed.

On 14 May 2018, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) approved a resolution allowing transgender people to change their name to reflect their gender identity on official ID cards.

In addition, the TSE reported that in order to avoid stigmatizing effects, the gender a person is registered with at birth will no longer appear on identity documents.

[45][46] On 28 June 2018, President Carlos Alvarado Quesada issued an executive decree requiring all state institutions to modify the documents and internal records of transgender people who wish to have their name, photograph or sex changed.

While certain politicians, such as President Óscar Arias, have expressed support for LGBTQ rights, Costa Ricans tended (and still do to an extent) to be socially conservative when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity issues, in large part due to the strong influences of the Roman Catholic Church and cultural traditions about machismo.

In 1990, Minister of the Interior, the Police and Public Security Antonio Alvarez Desanti announced that he would not allow foreign women to enter Costa Rica to participate in an "Encuentro", an international meeting of lesbians.

[52] He also informed airlines that if they sold tickets to women travelling alone, or appearing likely to attend the meeting, they would be required to provide for the suspected lesbians' immediate return.

[52] Furthermore, the Costa Rican Government refused on multiple occasions to grant legal recognition to political organizations seeking to advance LGBT rights.

[56] On 27 March 2008, President Oscar Arias Sanchez signed an executive order designating 17 May as the National Day Against Homophobia,[57] committing Costa Rica to join others around the world in working to eradicate bias against gays and lesbians.

[62] On 15 May 2014, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, President Luis Guillermo Solis placed a rainbow flag in the Presidential House.

In 2012, controversy erupted when Justo Orozco, president of the Costa Rican Renewal Party, was head of the Legislative Assembly's Human Rights Committee.

The effect of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights's ruling on same-sex marriage caused uproar in the country and is often signaled and one of the main causes behind the divisive 2018 Costa Rican general election, in which the two main candidates were Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz (PRN), a conservative Evangelical and staunch opponent of same-sex marriage, and Carlos Alvarado Quesada (PAC), a liberal and staunch supporter.