In January 2017, a decree issued by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski took effect, prohibiting all forms of discrimination and hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

[5] Later, with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, many of these "huacos" were destroyed for being considered immoral, a practice that continued until the 20th century, this time by researchers and archaeologists, in an attempt to censor and maintain an idealized vision of ancient Perú.

Each temple or main shrine has a man, two or more depending on the idol, who are dressed as women, and with these, almost by way of sanctity and religion, the lords and principals have their carnal council.Likewise, the Incas had special consideration for lesbians whom they called holjoshta.

[7] The chronicler Martín de Murúa commented in his General History of Peru that the Inca Lloque Yupanqui punished "with great severity public sins - stealing, killing – and sodomy, for which he restrained, plucked his ears, pulled his nose and hanged him, and he cut the necks of the nobles and principals or tore their shirts.”[8]

the trees of their estates, uprooting them... and they proclaimed by an unforgettable law that from then on they should guard against falling into such a crime, under penalty that for the sin of one, their entire town would be devastated and all its inhabitants in general burned.For his part, Cieza de León commented in his Chronicle of Peru that the Incas punished those who practiced homosexuality: "they hated those who used it, considering them as vile timid people and that if it was known to anyone that such a sin had committed, they punished him with such a penalty that it would be pointed out and known among everyone.

[10] With the arrival of the Hispanic conquistadors and the creation of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Christianity was introduced, in this case the Catholic religion, and with it the Inquisition, which at that time was already established in Europe.

However, there were also some Spaniards, Creoles and mestizo homosexuals who, faced with the repressive laws of the time, practiced their sexual relations clandestinely, as in the other European overseas territories in America.

A much-loved Lima character from the end of the viceregal era and the beginning of the Republic was Juan José Cabezudo, a famous Afro-Peruvian cook nicknamed "el maricón" or "eater."

[18] On 26 July 2010, Deputy José Vargas of the ruling party Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana announced that he would introduce a bill legalizing civil unions.

[24] In April 2014, legislator Carlos Bruce received a petition signed by 10,000 people in favor of allowing civil unions for same-sex couples.

After the debate, politician Carlos Bruce, who had earlier stated publicly that he was gay, decided that his original civil union bill providing same-sex couples with more comprehensive rights should be voted on separately from the other proposals.

More than one bill allowing for the recognition of same-sex relationships was scheduled to be discussed in the following parliamentary session, which began in August, though the debate was eventually postponed once more.

[27] In mid-December 2014, during the last week of the 2014 legislative year, it was announced that the bill would be the first thing on the Government's agenda in the new parliamentary session, which began in early March 2015.

[30] Congressmen Carlos Bruce and Alberto de Belaunde, from the center-right party Peruvians for Change, reintroduced a civil union bill in Congress in late November 2016.

[31][32][33] The bill bears the signatures of various politicians, namely Gino Costa, Sergio Dávila, Vicente Zeballos, Ana María Choquehuanca, Guido Lombardi, Janet Sánchez Alva, Juan Sheput and Vice President Mercedes Aráoz.

As a result, same-sex couples who have married in a foreign country will have no problems in registering property they purchased in Peru and have their economic rights recognized.

[36] In a ruling published on 9 January 2017, the 7th Constitutional Court of Lima ordered the RENIEC to recognize and register the marriage of a same-sex couple, Oscar Ugarteche and Fidel Aroche, who had previously wed in Mexico City.

The court ruled that not recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other countries would be highly discriminatory and contrary to both the Peruvian Constitution and many international provisions.

[51][52] In July 2013, Congress voted down, 56–27 with 18 abstentions, a bill to amend Peru's hate crime laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

[54] To break the political deadlock within Congress, a governmental decree (Nº 1323) adding the terms sexual orientation and gender identity to existing hate crime and anti-discrimination laws was published in the country's official gazette, with the new Penal Code coming into effect on 7 January 2017.

[66][67] This was the first reported case of discrimination based on sexual orientation in the Peruvian justice system that reached the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

[69] In addition to the 2017 decree prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people nationwide, a number of regions and districts have enacted their own anti-discrimination laws covering among others sexual orientation and gender identity.

These are Ayacucho, La Libertad, Loreto, Moquegua, San Martín, Tacna and Ucayali, as well as the districts of Alto Selva Alegre, Castilla, Miraflores (Lima), and Pueblo Libre.

Others have protections but only on the basis of sexual orientation: Amazonas, Apurímac, Callao, Huancavelica, Huánuco, Ica, Junín and Madre de Dios, as well as the provinces of Cajamarca, Cañete, Cutervo, Lambayeque, Lima,[70] Piura, Santa and Sullana, and the districts of Ancón, Chaclacayo, Characato, Jacobo Hunter, Jesús María, Lince, Majes, Miraflores (Arequipa), Morropón, Pachacamac, Picsi, San Isidro, San Juan de Lurigancho, San Miguel, Saña, Santa Anita, Santa María del Mar, Santiago de Surco and Villa El Salvador.

[73] As of March 2021, the Gender Identity Law is pending in the legislature, supported by Congresswomen Rocío Silva Santisteban, Carolina Lizárraga, Mónica Saavedra, and the independent parliamentarian Arlette Contreras.

[75] Judges Manuel Miranda Canales, Marianella Ledesma Narváez, Carlos Ramos Núñez and Eloy Espinosa-Saldaña Barrera were part of the majority.

The Ministry of Health clarified that sexual orientation and gender identity are not diseases and thus they should not be subject to conversion therapies in May 2024, reiterating a 2021 technical document.

[85][86][87] Nevertheless, when comedian and playwright Carolina Silva Santisteban applied to donate blood in early 2018, her application was rejected on the basis of her sexual orientation.

[89] In 2020, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that Azul Rojas Marín, then living as a gay man, had been tortured in police custody in 2008.

[97] A poll by the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP), carried out between June 2016 and May 2019, indicated that the percentage of Peruvians who opposed same-sex marriage had dropped from 68% to 59%.