DenverChief
08-22-2010, 04:41 AM
Oh noes!
Mexico's Supreme Court has upheld (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6745RD20100805) a landmark law permitting same-sex marriages in Mexico City, rejecting the conservative federal government's claim that the law is unconstitutional because it threatens the institution of the family.
The justices, in an 8-2 decision, with one jurist absent, cast their opinions on one of two grounds: First, individual states (including the Federal District, as Mexico City is also known) can define or limit marriage through their legislatures; or second, Mexico's constitution is vague on the definition of "family."
Mexico City's law is an anomaly in the heavily Roman Catholic country, where the church hierarchy and the ruling center-right National Action Party (PAN) have vehemently opposed same-sex marriage.
Thursday's ruling was greeted as another victory in the international gay-rights community and came the day after a U.S. federal judge struck down (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-marriage-california-20100805,0,2696248.story) Proposition 8, a ballot initiative in California that banned same-sex marriages there. Argentina last month passed a sweeping same-sex marriage law (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/07/argentina-same-sex-gay-marriage.html), making it the first country in Latin America to give gay couples the same rights as heterosexuals.
Mexico City's legislative assembly voted in December to allow same-sex marriages within the Federal District. An estimated 300 gay and lesbian couples have been married since the law took effect (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/03/gay-weddings.html) in March.
The Mexican Supreme Court will rule next week on another challenge to Mexico City's law: whether married gay couples can adopt children. The court is also slated to decide whether same-sex marriages from Mexico City should be recognized and protected in Mexico's states.
-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/08/supreme-court-mexico-gay-marriage.html
Mexico's Supreme Court has upheld (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6745RD20100805) a landmark law permitting same-sex marriages in Mexico City, rejecting the conservative federal government's claim that the law is unconstitutional because it threatens the institution of the family.
The justices, in an 8-2 decision, with one jurist absent, cast their opinions on one of two grounds: First, individual states (including the Federal District, as Mexico City is also known) can define or limit marriage through their legislatures; or second, Mexico's constitution is vague on the definition of "family."
Mexico City's law is an anomaly in the heavily Roman Catholic country, where the church hierarchy and the ruling center-right National Action Party (PAN) have vehemently opposed same-sex marriage.
Thursday's ruling was greeted as another victory in the international gay-rights community and came the day after a U.S. federal judge struck down (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-marriage-california-20100805,0,2696248.story) Proposition 8, a ballot initiative in California that banned same-sex marriages there. Argentina last month passed a sweeping same-sex marriage law (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/07/argentina-same-sex-gay-marriage.html), making it the first country in Latin America to give gay couples the same rights as heterosexuals.
Mexico City's legislative assembly voted in December to allow same-sex marriages within the Federal District. An estimated 300 gay and lesbian couples have been married since the law took effect (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/03/gay-weddings.html) in March.
The Mexican Supreme Court will rule next week on another challenge to Mexico City's law: whether married gay couples can adopt children. The court is also slated to decide whether same-sex marriages from Mexico City should be recognized and protected in Mexico's states.
-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/08/supreme-court-mexico-gay-marriage.html