Costa Rica’s President Carlos Alvarado on Friday signed a number of decrees and norms granting various rights to the LGBT community. These measures will allow same-sex couples to receive an allowance for housing that is given to low-income families, recognizes mixed nationality homosexual couples and extends the recognition of gender identity to migrants, amongst others. Earlier this year, the government recognized the gender identity of Costa Rican transsexuals. One directive states that it is in the public interest to allow transsexuals to undergo hormone replacement therapy through the state health system. “We are recognizing that there are some rights enjoyed by the majority of the population, while others don’t enjoy those rights,” said Alvarado.