As of January 2023, there are fifteen same-sex couples who have managed to officially register their free union based on the application of Advisory Opinion OC-24/17 of November 24, 2017 issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

[citation needed] The conversion to Christianity, which traditionally has regarded homosexuality as sinful, has resulted in a climate of homophobia and persecution for LGBT people.

[citation needed] This is notably true among the Aymara, whose popular culture now regards homosexuality as a synonym to infidelity or bad luck.

[10] The age of consent in Bolivia is set at 14 per article 308bis (known as "Rape of Infants, Girls, Boys and Adolescents" (Violación Infantes, Niña, Niño y Adolescentes)) of the Criminal Code, which punishes rape (violación) of children under 14, "even without the use of force or intimidation and when consent is alleged" (así no haya uso de la fuerza o intimidación y se alegue consentimiento).

[13] In April 2012, a member of the opposition coalition, the National Convergence, introduced a bill in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly to legalize same-sex civil unions.

[16] Multiple similar proposals were introduced in the following years, but all stalled due to opposition from the Catholic Church and several members of the governing Movement for Socialism party.

[17][18] Following the decision, a same-sex couple, David Aruquipa Pérez and Guido Montaño Durán, went to a Civil Registry Service (SERECI) office in La Paz in October 2018 seeking to formalise their 9-year-old relationship as a free union, which are offered the same rights as marriages.

[25] On May 13, 2022, another same-sex couple managed to register their free union based on the Advisory Opinion OC-24/17, after a year of waiting and bureaucratic procedures.

[26] On May 27, 2022, a third same-sex couple was able to formalize their free union by registering their relationship with the Civil Registry Service of the city of Santa Cruz, whose administrative process lasted more than a year.

[27][28] On October 7, 2022, a fourth couple officially registered their free union in the offices of the Civic Registry Service of La Paz.

[29] In January 2023, the LGBT organization MANODIVERSA reported that, nationwide, fifteen same-sex couples have managed to register their free union, mainly in the cities of Santa Cruz, La Paz and Cochabamba.

Article 14(II) of the Constitution of Bolivia, implemented in February 2009, prohibits and punishes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

[a] The Law Against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination (Spanish: Ley Contra el Racismo y Toda Forma de Discriminación) defines discrimination as "any form of distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on sex, colour, age, sexual orientation and gender identity, origin, culture, nationality, citizenship, language, religion, ideology, political or philosophical affiliation, marital status, economic, social or health status, profession, occupation, level of education, disabilities and/or physical disabilities, intellectual or sensory impairment, pregnancy, origin, physical appearance, clothing, surname or other that have the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by the Constitution and international law."

It also bans "dissemination and incitement to racism and discrimination", stating that anyone who "through any means broadcasts ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, or that promote or justify racism or any kind of discrimination on the grounds described above, or that incite to violence or persecution of people, based on racist or discriminatory motives will be imprisoned from one to five years.

[35] In May 2016, the LGBT rights group Colectivo de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y personas Transgénero presented to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly a draft law against hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity, which includes a penalty of 30 years imprisonment.

In June 2017, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal instructed the Civil Registry Service to recognize the newly assigned sex of transgender people in their requests to marry.

[42] In November 2017, the Supreme Court of Bolivia invalidated this instruction, ruling it unconstitutional, and declaring that a sex changed under the law may not be recognized for the purpose of marriage.

Gay men from over 120 countries were asked about how they feel about society's view on homosexuality, how do they experience the way they are treated by other people and how satisfied are they with their lives.