17 64. Article 1(1) of the American Convention has been used to interpret the word “discrimination” that appears in Convention Article 24.43 The Court has written that the specific criteria by virtue of which discrimination is prohibited do not constitute an exhaustive or limitative list, but merely illustrative. Consequently, the expression “any other social condition” in Article 1(1) of the Convention should be interpreted in the context of the most favorable option for the human being and in light of the evolution of fundamental rights in contemporary international law.44 65. Similarly, the organs of the inter-American system have concluded that sexual orientation45 is a category protected by the ACHR. Accordingly the following has been established: [b]earing in mind the general obligations to respect and guarantee the rights established in Article 1(1) of the American Convention, the interpretation criteria set forth in Article 29 of that Convention, the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and the standards established by the European Court and the mechanisms of the United Nations […], the InterAmerican Court establishes that the sexual orientation of persons is a category protected by the Convention. Therefore, any regulation, act, or practice considered discriminatory based on a person’s sexual orientation is prohibited. Consequently, no domestic regulation, decision, or practice, whether by state authorities or individuals, may diminish or restrict, in any way 46 whatsoever, the rights of a person based on his or her sexual orientation. 66. The Court also observed that “the prohibition of discrimination due to sexual orientation should include, as protected rights, the conduct associated with the expression of homosexuality”47 and explained that “the alleged lack of consensus in some countries regarding full respect for the rights of sexual minorities cannot be considered a valid argument to deny or restrict their human rights or to perpetuate and reproduce the historical and structural discrimination that these minorities have suffered.”48 43 IACHR, Application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of Karen Atala and Daughters v. Chile, 17 September 2010, par. 78. 44 I/A Court H.R. Case of Atala Riffo and Daughters v. Chile. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 24, 2012. Series C No. 239, par. 85; The Right to Information on Consular Assistance in the Framework of the Guarantees of the Due Process of Law, Advisory Opinion OC-16/99, October 1, 1999. Series A No. 16, par. 115. 45 A person’s sexual orientation is independent of his or her biological sex or gender identity. It has been defined as “each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender.” In international human rights law sexual orientation —like gender identity and gender expression— have been considered as personal characteristics in the sense that they are innate or inherent to the person (like race or ethnicity) and immutable, with immutable understood as a characteristic that is difficult to control and from which the person cannot divorce himself or herself without sacrificing his or her identity. See, inter alia, the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, 2006; I/A Court H.R. Case of Karen Atala Riffo and Daughters v. Chile. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 24, 2012. Series C No. 239, paragraphs 87, 94. 46 I/A Court H.R. Case of Atala Riffo and Daughters v. Chile. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 24, 2012. Series C No. 239, par. 91. 47 I/A Court H.R. Case of Atala Riffo and Daughters v. Chile. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 24, 2012. Series C No. 239, par. 139. 48 I/A Court H.R. Case of Atala Riffo and Daughters v. Chile. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 24, 2012. Series C No. 239, par. 92.