Mexican Supreme Court upholds gay marriages

Mexico City, Aug 11 (IANS/EFE) The Mexican Supreme Court has ruled that gay marriages performed here are valid across Mexico, upholding an earlier high court order and rejecting a challenge brought by the Attorney General’s Office.

However, none of Mexico’s 31 states has followed the Federal District in legalising same-sex unions, while several conservative state governments vowed not to recognise gay marriages performed in the capital.

The high court voted 8-2 last Thursday to uphold the constitutionality of the Mexico City ordinance permitting same-sex marriage.

The decision was based on Article 121 of the constitution, which mandates that each of the Mexican Federation’s 32 jurisdictions give “faith and credit” to the acts and judicial proceedings of all the others.

“Civil acts are the constitutional province of the states; therefore, they are the acts of the states and are valid not only for the other states, but also for the Federation,” Justice Jose de Jesus Gudiño Pelayo wrote.

The justices are expected to rule later this week on the capital measure in favour of adoption by same-sex couples.

Since the marriage ordinance took effect five months ago, 320 same-sex couples have wed in Mexico City, most of them in their 30s. Marriages of between two men have outnumbered female unions by 173 to 147.

Twenty-seven of the weddings were between Mexicans and foreign partners from countries such as the US, Canada, Guatemala, Colombia, Germany and Spain.

–IANS/EFE