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Mexican President Moves to Legalize Gay Marriage Mexican President Moves to Legalize Gay Marriage Nationwide
(about 7 hours later)
MEXICO CITY — The president of Mexico submitted a proposal to Congress on Tuesday to legalize gay marriage in his country, making Mexico the latest nation to press forward with breaking long-held taboos in Latin America. MEXICO CITY — The president of Mexico said Tuesday that he was submitting a proposal to Congress to legalize same-sex marriage, as Mexico presses forward with breaking long-held taboos in Latin America.
Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil already allow same-sex marriage. Ecuador has approved civil unions, and Colombia grants same-sex couples many of the same rights given to heterosexual married couples. Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil already allow same-sex marriage, and Colombia’s high court declared last month that gay couples have a constitutional right to marry. With the addition of Mexico, more than 70 percent of Latin Americans now live in countries where same-sex marriage is permitted.
The move by Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, was described as an effort to bring into law a series of rulings by the nation’s Supreme Court. The decisions, which found that it was unconstitutional for states to block gay marriage, have had the effect of legalizing gay marriage in Mexico without enshrining it in law. President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico said his two bills would change the Constitution to incorporate the right for same-sex couples to wed and reform the federal civil code to assure marriage equality.
In 2009, Mexico City, a federal district and large liberal island in this socially conservative country, legalized gay marriage — a first in Latin America. There have been thousands of same-sex weddings here since then, some of them couples coming to the city from other states. Those changes would turn into law a ruling last year by the nation’s Supreme Court that it was unconstitutional for states to ban same-sex marriage. In practice, though, the effect of the ruling was to legalize gay marriage without requiring Mexico’s states to rewrite their marriage laws.
“In our country, there can’t be those who have certain rights in some states and others who do not,” Mr. Peña Nieto said at a ceremony for the National Day of the Fight Against Homophobia.
Revising the Constitution, he said, would incorporate marriage equality as a human right with full clarity.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, several states have pushed back, revising their local constitutions to declare that marriage is between a man and a woman.
“We are changing the concept that marriage is only to propagate the species,” said Humberto Castillejos, the president’s legal counsel. “It cannot only be to procreate children.”
The president’s proposal is intended to make recognition of marriage equality “automatic and for the whole country,” Mr. Castillejos said.
But Jordi Díez, a political scientist at the University of Guelph in Canada, who has written about same-sex marriage in Latin America, said the practical effect of the proposal might not be as immediate as advertised. “It’s still up to the states to change the definition of state law,” Mr. Díez said, although he added that he expected a majority of states to pass the constitutional change.
He argued that the proposal might have had a political component, given Mr. Peña Nieto’s flagging popularity.
“Given how bad his record is on human rights, it’s an effort to give some legitimacy to his presidency,” Mr. Díez said.
Mexico City, a liberal island in this socially conservative county, led the way in legalizing same-sex marriage in Latin America in 2009. There have been thousands of same-sex weddings since then, some of them of couples coming from other states.
Argentina followed in 2010. Gay marriage became legal in Uruguay and Brazil in 2013, and Colombia was the last to rule.
Attitudes in Latin America are beginning to shift as the region becomes more urban and secular, although support for same-sex marriage is far from sweeping.
Mr. Díez said that activists had been working for decades to press for gay rights in Latin America, and that over the years, they had woven networks of allies. “They have been very good at framing the issue in a way that resonates with society — as an issue of human rights,” he said.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center published last year, the only Latin American countries where majorities approved of same-sex marriage in 2014 were Argentina and Uruguay. In Mexico, about half approved of it, and in Brazil, 45 percent did.
Mr. Peña Nieto’s proposal would also make it easier for transgender people to obtain a passport recognizing their gender identity.