Mexico equal marriage rights decreed by the supreme court leads to state confusion and discrimination

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Equal marriage is a universal right that in 2021 has been denied in some places in Mexico and the world

The situation of equal marriage in Mexico is “relatively confusing” because although the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) issued jurisprudence in 2015, each of the states through their congresses are the ones that must legislate on the subject, which generates “confusion” and contributes to “discrimination”, said Alex Méndez, director of litigation for the group México Igualitario.

The lawyer and activist told La Jornada that equal marriage can be accessed in 19 states and remarked that the objective of the platform launched last February by México Igualitario and All Out, called Can I Get Married, México ? is to “press for that equal marriage be legalized in all states ”.

Matrimonio Igualitario en México y el mundo

There are entities in which equal marriage is allowed “because the Court intervened, in others by legislative amendment, in some by the order of the governor, as is the case of Chihuahua, and where it is not possible to resort to protection.”

He argued that “the situation is complex, for example, Chihuahua does not have a legislative change, its definition in the Civil Code says that marriage is the union of a single man and a woman, but by instructions of the governor it was ordered that it no longer be denied equal marriage. There is no reform there, but there is already marriages. In Tabasco, they do not have reform, and there is no access to marriage by other means, so it must be through AMPARO protection ”.

In the case of “Jalisco, Aguascalientes and Chiapas did not reform their code, but the Court erased the obstacles and there may be marriage, although there is no legislative change by Congress.

“In Yucatán, there is a peculiarity that has made progress difficult; The definition of marriage is not only in the Civil Code, but also in the Constitution, so the changes are approved by the plenary session of Congress, but also the municipalities must endorse it. They are two barriers to pass ”.

He stressed that progress should be made on the issue because even “the Inter-American Court has already established a criterion in its advisory opinion 24/2017 that speaks of the obligation of the States that make up the OAS to protect homoparental families through marriage.”

Equal marriage or matrionio people of the same sex or gender is the formation of an institution that provides support for gay people or the same gender identity to get legal status of partner, this gives them the opportunity so they can make and put in order documentation that would not be possible if there were no family ties, such as visits to the hospital, or rights to real estate and social security

“It is the legal action that allows civil marriage between two people of the same sex and by having this human right other rights are specified that before equal marriage did not exist,” says Miguel Ángel Dzib Miss , General Coordinator at ConCiencia LGBT + MX .

Equal marriage leads to homoparental adoption
Equal marriage leads to homoparental adoption

Several countries in the world have joined this initiative since 2000, however, currently, in the middle of 2021, there are still countries that refuse to be part of this movement. In Mexico, for example, there are still 12 states that do not provide this human right to their citizens.

Countries with equal marriage

  • 2000

Netherlands

  • 2003

Belgium

  • 2005

Canada

Spain

  • 2006

South Africa

  • 2009

Norway

Sweden

  • 2010

Argentina

Iceland

Portugal

  • 2012

Denmark

  • 2013

Brazil 

England / Wales

France

New Zealand

Uruguay

  • 2014

Luxembourg

Scotland

  • 2015.

Finland

Ireland

USA

  • 2016

Colombia 

Greenland

  • 2017

Australia 

malt

Germany

  • 2019

Austria

Taiwan

North Ireland

Ecuador

  • 2020

Costa Rica

* In Mexico equal marriage is legal in some states.

States of Mexico where same-sex marriage is allowed

Currently, same-sex marriage is legal and can be performed directly (without protection) in 20 of the 32 states of the country, with the exception of certain municipalities in 3 states ( Guerrero , Querétaro and Zacatecas ).

In 13 states (Baja California Sur, Campeche, Mexico City, Coahuila, Colima, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí and Tlaxcala) they reformed their Civil Code , with the exception of Quintana Roo since there was no necessity due to legal loophole .

In 4 states thanks to a ruling by the SCJN (Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Jalisco, and Nuevo León), the rest of the states stopped imposing the prohibition (Baja California and Chihuahua), these states approved the marriage but did not reform their Civil Code.

Although the SCJN invalidated the civil codes of these states by declaring it unconstitutional for excluding same-sex couples, the Civil Registry usually ignores it by considering it “half-legal . 

And the state of Veracruz has a figure similar to marriage called “equal concubinage” that grants almost the same rights as a marriage but this is still under protection. In addition, the SCJN has ordered the states of Sinaloa and Tamaulipas to legalize equal marriage by declaring their civil codes unconstitutional because they exclude homosexual couples.

Same-sex marriage is allowed in 32 countries in the world and in 20 states in Mexico
Same-sex marriage is allowed in 32 countries in the world and in 20 states in Mexico

Mexico, in 20 of 32 federative entities equal marriage is allowed

  • Mexico City (In 2010 it was approved together with the homoparental adoption)
  • Campeche (2016)
  • Chihuahua (In 2012 a couple won an amparo, but it was approved until 2015 by a decree of the then governor César Duarte)
  • Colima (2016)
  • Coahuila (It was approved in 2014 along with the homoparental adoption)
  • Michoacán (2016)
  • Morelos (2016)
  • Nayarit (2015)
  • Hidalgo (2019)
  • Baja California Sur (2019)
  • Oaxaca (2019)
  • San Luis Potosí (2019)
  • Tlaxcala (2020)
  • Quintana Roo (In 2012 it began to be accepted because the Civil Code did not clearly establish that marriage is the union between a man and a woman).

States that accept it by order of the Court

  • Chiapas (2017)
  • Puebla (2017)
  • Jalisco (The Court ordered it in 2016, however, organizations have denounced that the ruling has not been respected)
  • New Leon (2019)
  • Baja California (2014)
  • Aguascalientes (2019) 

Equal marriage before the law

The activist Miguel Ángel Dzib Miss explained exclusively for La Verdad Noticias that equal marriage is extremely important since there is nothing else before the law that allows access to other specific human rights . He stressed that the free union is not legal in Mexico either , so that issue is of equal relevance, but above all the approval of the law for equal marriage allows the full exercise of rights since there is nothing legal that supports the union between people of the same sex. 

“Equal marriage helps by granting benefits from public as well as labor. How the possibility of subrogating the deceased spouse their social security benefits. It also grants the possibility of adoption or registration of sons or daughters before a legal medium, ”said Dzib Miss. 

Over the years the Church has become more open to equal marriages
Over the years the Church has become more open to equal marriages

Church position on equal marriage

From the doctrinal point of view, any type of union or coexistence between homosexuals is not legitimate within the Catholic community; even if many nations with a majority Catholic population have legitimized de facto unions even between homosexuals and, in some cases, even marriage .

In 1992 the ministry led by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger established that “the right to homosexuality does not exist , so it should not constitute the basis of judicial claims.”

In 2003 Ratzinger reiterated that ” respect for homosexual persons cannot in any way lead to the approval of homosexual behavior or to the legalization of homosexual unions.” 

For his part, Father Maurizio Faggioni, moral theologian, physician, and bioethicist, author of numerous studies on the subject, to the Avvenire Journal: ” the homosexual orientation, on the other hand, although disordered with respect to the heterosexual paradigm, cannot be judged as guilty ”.

“Ultimately, being homosexual is not a sin, even if homosexual orientation tends to perform sexual acts that do not conform to the Christian ethical ideal.”

“The absolution of the moral responsibility of the homosexual condition does not resolve, however, the question of the affective and sexual life of homosexuals who are excluded from any possibility of legitimate sexual intimacy and, therefore, invited to perpetual continence” added this specialist.

On the other hand, Pope Francis indicated that the civil union between people of the same sex represents a change from the perspective of his predecessors, as well as his own more circumspect attitude on this issue in the past.

In 2010, when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the Pontiff opposed efforts to legalize the so-called homosexual “ marriage, ” more in line with the official position of the Vatican. In the book ” On Heaven and Earth “, Pope Francis did not directly reject the possibility of civil unions, but said that the laws that liken homosexual relations to marriage are “an anthropological regression.”

In the same way, he expressed his concern that if homosexual couples are allowed to adopt “there could be affected boys. Every person needs a male father and a female mother to help shape their identity ”.

Years later, on his apostolic trip to Cuba and the United States, the Pope expressed his personal consent to the conscientious objection provision in favor of government officials who do not intend to issue same-sex marriage licenses. At the same time, he defined conscientious objection as a human rights element that should belong to any judicial system.

Conservative groups

In 2016, the then president, Enrique Peña Nieto, presented a package of reforms to the Congress of the Union that included the legalization of equal marriage, adoption by same-sex couples, among other actions.

Conservative groups coordinated resistance actions to the Executive’s proposal and created the National Front for the Family(FNF), which defined itself as “millions of parents and more than a thousand institutions of organized civil society throughout the country, which we promote and defend the most important institutions of society: the marriage formed between a man and a woman, and the natural family, both bases of our society ”.

The FNF, as an organization coordinated with the countermobilization, is made up of the National Union of Parents, the Coordinating Council of Movements for Life and the Family, various pro-life and family coalitions in all states of the country, young lay people, all groups close to and supported by the Mexican Catholic Church

In addition to these associations, some journalists have documented how the far-right conservative group El Yunque has promoted the formation of the FNF, as well as the role of businessmen, politicians and relatives of conservative politicians in financially supporting this reaction, especially in states such as Guanajuato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Querétaro, Puebla, Sonora, Zacatecas and Durango.

Society

Marriage is an institution that gives us rights and obligations and protects the couple who have a life project in common, in every way, regardless of the children they freely decide to have, which is why I agree with the marriage. egalitarian, indicates the lawyer Ana María Kudisch Castelló as Director at Kudisch Abogados.

A survey carried out by Pew Research highlights that in all Western European countries the respondents are overwhelmingly in favor of same-sex marriage and places Spain with 77% acceptance.

The results of the surveys carried out by the CIS from 1975 to 2016. Data relative to 2004, the year prior to the approval of same-sex marriage, two-thirds of the population (66%) claimed to be in favor of the legislative amendment, a percentage that in 2013 rose to 71% and that in 2016 exceeded 76%.

On the other hand, while before the law 44% were opposed to homosexual couples being able to adopt, in 2013 that percentage had dropped to 29% and, in 2016, to 24%.

Same-sex marriage brings LGBTI + adoption closer

The expert Miguel Ángel Dzib Miss, pointed out that when there is an equal marriage, there is a feeling of tranquility, totally different when there is a legal documentary that supports the union, so the dignity of the right has an impact on all emotional senses since it is not only a document, if not that which gives them recognition, identity, visibility and above all within a legal framework.

Since it is legal in most of the country, it brings us the following question, Are we close to adoption for LGBTI + couples ?

“It is an even more controversial issue than equal marriage, since the religious opposition is very great, despite the great information that exists, many people still consider that this can cause disorder in children, however it is an issue that It is not far to see it within the proposals of deputies since having equal marriage as law, legal adoption is approaching and I am sure that in a short time it will also be law, “said Dzib Miss.

In Mexico, several states legalized equal marriage together with adoption
In Mexico, several states legalized equal marriage together with adoption

States that allow homoparental adoption

  • Mexico City
  • Coahuila
  • Campeche
  • Colima
  • Guanajuato
  • Morelos
  • San Luis Potosi
  • Chiapas
  • Yucatán (surrogate belly)

Is Mexico ready for egalitarian or homoparental adoption?

Same-sex marriage is one of the most controversial issues in Mexico, where homoparental families have many difficulties since they get married or adopt a child or baby.

The rights of the LGBT + community have advanced in recent years, and although in most states marriage and homoparental adoption are allowed, it is still a taboo subject for the population, where same-sex couples suffer discrimination. 

Mexico is not yet fully prepared for equal marriages and adoptions in its entirety, due largely to the stigmas of the population and conservative groups.

Since 2009, Mexico City allows same-sex couples to adopt.

As of August 18, 2010, the Supreme Court established that homosexual couples have the same right to adopt as heterosexual couples.

Scientists support homoparental adoption
Scientists support homoparental adoption

The scientific field in egalitarian families

The England Journal of medicine: There is no difference in mental or physical health in children adopted by same-sex families compared to children from heterosexual families. Children of egalitarian families showed less difficulties in general than the second group.

Medical Journal of Australia: Children who grow up in same-sex/egalitarian families receive better parenting quality and greater flexibility on gender roles and sexual diversity.

Lesbian and gay perenting: They deny that homosexuality is a pathology (being the child of homosexuals / lesbians does not influence the sexual orientation of the minor)

Amicus curiae (California Psychological Association): The quality of parents influences the social, mental and emotional development of children, not their sexual orientation or gender.

Source: laverdadnoticias.com, jornada.com.mx

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