Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Ecuador have evolved significantly in the past decades.

The lawsuit focused mostly on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' ruling in Atala Riffo and Daughters v. Chile and its 2018 opinion on same-sex marriage.

[4] Conquest by the Spanish from the mid-16 century onwards introduced Christianity, specifically Roman Catholicism, and religious mores condemning homosexuality as "sinful" and "immoral" to the region now known as Ecuador.

These reports suggest that male homosexuality was punished in the south and centre of the Inca Empire, possibly by death, but was tolerated in the north.

Quariwarmi were cross-dressing shamans, tasked with performing rituals in honour of Chuqui Hinchay, a jaguar dual-gender god.

[8] In 2014, a new Organic Integral Penal Code (2014) entered into force, which did not include the criminalising provisions previously struck down by the Constitutional Court.

After both were rejected for not being a different-sex couple, they filed suit in court arguing that the refusal to recognise their marriage was discriminatory, unconstitutional and a violation of the American Convention on Human Rights.

[4] Article 68 of the Ecuador Constitution states: "La adopción corresponderá sólo a parejas de distinto sexo".

[Note 2] In May 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador ordered the Civil Registry to register a seven-year-old girl as the daughter of a lesbian couple.

[20] In 1998, Ecuador became the first country in the Americas (and only the third worldwide after South Africa and Fiji) to include sexual orientation as a protected category in its Constitution.

[8] An unofficial English language translation of Article 11(2) states: All persons are equal and shall enjoy the same rights, duties and opportunities.

The State shall adopt affirmative action measures that promote real equality for the benefit of the rights-bearers who are in a situation of inequality.

The policy aims to guarantee and strengthen their rights in relation to health, education, work, security, social protection and justice.

The petition also was updated with a statement from Fundacion Causana reading, After ten years of outcry, the nation of Ecuador – through the Ministry of Public Health – has entered into a commitment with civic organizations and society in general to deconstruct the belief that homosexuality is an illness and root out the use of torture in these clinics.

It has been invaluable to have this support in starting to change this reality.Minister of Health Carina Vance Mafla ordered shortly thereafter three clinics to be raided in the vicinity of Quito and rescued dozens of women.

[31] The first gay pride in Ecuador took place in Quito in 1998, following the Constitutional Court ruling that overturned the law which prohibited sexual acts between people of the same sex.

The clinics reportedly used cruel treatments, including rape, in an attempt to change LGBT persons' sexual orientation.

Members of the LGBT community continued to report that their right of equal access to formal education was frequently violated.

The LGBT population involved in the commercial sex trade reported abusive situations, extortion, and mistreatment by security forces.

For the first time, the municipality of Guayaquil agreed to light up the Bolivar and San Martin Monument with the colors of the rainbow in support of LGBT rights.

[53] La unión estable y monogámica entre dos personas libres de vínculo matrimonial que formen un hogar de hecho, por el lapso y bajo las condiciones y circunstancias que señale la ley, generará los mismos derechos y obligaciones que tienen las familias constituidas mediante matrimonio.