Since 2016, the Panamanian Supreme Court has received several appeals from same-sex couples against the Family Law, which only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman. But according to the couples, this is unconstitutional. Therefore, they requested recognition of their marriages performed in other countries.
Their request failed at the Supreme Court. “Despite the changes that may occur in reality”, same-sex marriage “does not enjoy conventional and constitutional recognition” in Panama, the judgment reads. Six of the Court’s nine judges gave their approval.
According to the Supreme Court, the standards of the Family Act are “objectively and rationally justified by the public interest in favoring unions from which families can be built and which sustain the human species and, consequently, society”.