Mexico leader proposes legalizing gay marriage nationwide

Yahoo – AFP, Laurent Thomet, May 17, 2016

People participate in the gay pride parade in Mexico City, on June 28, 2014
(AFP Photo/Alfredo Estrella)

Mexico City (AFP) - President Enrique Pena Nieto proposed Tuesday a constitutional reform to legalize same-sex marriage across Mexico, joining a handful of Latin American nations allowing such unions.

Pena Nieto said he will send the landmark initiative to Congress after the Supreme Court declared last year that it was unconstitutional for states to ban same-sex marriage.

"I do this with the conviction that the Mexican state must prevent discrimination for any motive and ensure equal rights to all," he said at an event marking the national day against homophobia.

"This way, equal marriage will be clear in our constitution," said Pena Nieto, who added rainbow colors to his picture in his Facebook and Twitter accounts and met with representatives of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Mexico City has authorized gay and lesbian marriages since 2009 and three of the nation's 31 states have followed suit. A fourth state, Campeche, has approved legislation but it has yet to come into force.

The Supreme Court's landmark "jurisprudence" does not oblige states to change their laws, but it requires courts to rule in favor of same-sex couples whose marriages were rejected.

Pena Nieto presented another initiative requiring the foreign ministry's passport office to accept birth certificates in which a person's gender was changed.

Among the few in Latin America

Elsewhere in the region, Colombia became the fourth South American country to allow same-sex marriage when the constitutional court definitively legalized it last month.

Argentina was the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2010.

Lawmakers in Uruguay followed suit in 2013 and Brazil authorized same-sex marriage under a court ruling the same year.

Same-sex marriages are also legal in various other countries including Britain, Canada, South Africa and the United States.

Around 12 million of the 120 million people in Mexico, the world's second biggest Roman Catholic country, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to the government.

Pena Nieto's proposal "is a response to the struggle that citizens have undertaken since 2012 to expose the violations in the civil codes," said Alex Ali Mendez, attorney of the gay rights organization Mexico Equal Marriage.

"One announcement by the president won't be enough," Mendez said. "We need reforms and we have seen (state) legislatures be very reluctant."

Another issue, he said, was that clerks that are granting marriage certificates to same-sex couples are not giving their children birth certificates.

"The president's announcement could make the other issues move forward with fewer obstacles," the attorney said.

Canada's justice minister will unveil legislation to protect transgender people
from hate speech and discrimination (AFP Photo/Geoff Robins)

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