There have been significant achievements for LGBT
people in Mexico throughout the past year. On Aug. 5, the Mexican Supreme Court
upheld the constitutionality of Mexico City’s same-sex marriage law by an 8-2
margin. Mexico City had legalized same-sex marriages in December of last year,
and the law became effective in March 2010. The Attorney General’s office
immediately brought a challenge to the law at the urging of the Catholic Church
and the National Action Party.
On Aug. 10, the court ruled by a 9-2 margin that all
of Mexico’s 31 states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in Mexico
City. According to Arturo Pueblita Fernández, a constitutional law professor at
the Ibero-American University in Mexico City, spousal rights would apply to
same-sex couples in all of Mexico, including alimony, inheritance and
federal social security coverage for spouses.
Then, on Aug. 16, the court ruled by the same margin
to uphold a provision of the marriage law that extends adoption rights to gay
and lesbian couples.
