Mexico Upholds Gay Marriage

[3113]

Mexico's Supreme Court has upheld 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 Proposition 8, a ballot initiative in California that banned same-sex marriages there. Argentina last month passed a sweeping same-sex marriage law, 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 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.

 

[al_Ussa]

Oh yeah. I'm just waiting for the claims from the religious reich that Mexicans are trying to destroy white America's "way of life". This should be a comedy gold mine.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The nice thing about fags is theyre self-limiting. Aside from their usual 13 year eruptions, they generally hibernate in their closets and cease to be pests.

 

[DorlaMoorehouse]

This is wonderful news to wake up to.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Mexico: A Queer Kind Of Place.

Maybe its why so many wetbacks are fleeing Mexico.

 

[TxRad]

Put JBJ on ignore for a better AH

 

[Liar]

Put JBJ on ignore for a better AH

No. I like to point and laugh at him.

The real conversation usually takes place neatly around him anyway.



So, back on topic:

"the conservative federal government's claim that the law is unconstitutional because it threatens the institution of the family."

Would be interresting to see the mex constitution. One that mentions the "insitution of the family" sounds peculiar.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Dear Reader,

Seems like TEX is obsessed with me, doesnt it?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

It sure does, especially since most Mexican politicians include their mistresses in their definition of family.

I admit that I've never read the Mexican constitution but given the anti-clerical nature of Mexican politics since the Revolution I would have serious doubts that there is anything in it regarding domestic relationships.

 

[jehoram]

I find it interesting that Argentina and Mexico, two countries with a very strong Catholic presence, have legalized gay marriage. It seems that despite that presence, the Church has less influence on political thought than the mainstream Christian churches in the US. Go figure...

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I have questions about your use of the term "mainstream" referring to the hard-core Fundamentalists in the U.S. "Mainstream" denominations in the States refer to people like the Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, etc. who generally do not foam at the mouth on the subject of GLBT rights. They are not politically rabid like Southern Baptists.

 

[al_Ussa]

I find it interesting that Argentina and Mexico, two countries with a very strong Catholic presence, have legalized gay marriage. It seems that despite that presence, the Church has less influence on political thought than the mainstream Christian churches in the US. Go figure...

What VM said. The Baptists and Evangelicals are actually minorities within American Christianity but with disproportionate influence and voice. Did you know that there are more Catholics in America than any other Christian denomination? By a long shot too.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

What VM said. The Baptists and Evangelicals are actually minorities within American Christianity but with disproportionate influence and voice. Did you know that there are more Catholics in America than any other Christian denomination? By a long shot too.

And American Catholics take the proclamations of the Vatican with a large grain of salt. Benedict can pontificate all he wants but American Catholics still use birth control, limit their families to what they can afford (for the most part!) and generally behave more like Anglicans than what the curia daydreams.

 

[jehoram]

I have questions about your use of the term "mainstream" referring to the hard-core Fundamentalists in the U.S. "Mainstream" denominations in the States refer to people like the Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, etc. who generally do not foam at the mouth on the subject of GLBT rights. They are not politically rabid like Southern Baptists.

Now that I think about it, I question it, too! I guess I should have said "some of the mainstream churches."

I'm basing my opinion on what happened in California with Prop 8. Yes, there were "mainstream" churches that supported same-sex marriages (or stayed neutral on the subject), but their voice was outshouted by other "mainstream" churches that campaigned for, and even financed, Prop 8. The latter churches included not only fundamentalists but evangelical churches, the Catholic Church, the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and, to the dismay of many civil rights activists, African-American churches.

In the end, this coalition of churches was able to get Prop 8 passed, so their influence isn't insignificant.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Now that I think about it, I question it, too! I guess I should have said "some of the mainstream churches."

I'm basing my opinion on what happened in California with Prop 8. Yes, there were "mainstream" churches that supported same-sex marriages (or stayed neutral on the subject), but their voice was outshouted by other "mainstream" churches that campaigned for, and even financed, Prop 8. The latter churches included not only fundamentalists but evangelical churches, the Catholic Church, the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and, to the dismay of many civil rights activists, African-American churches.

In the end, this coalition of churches was able to get Prop 8 passed, so their influence isn't insignificant.

Exactly! The opponents to Prop 8 were caught off guard by the African American turnout. Obama's presidential campaign energized that portion of the black vote that usually stayed home. And what portion was that? AME church ladies and their husbands. Socially these are very conservative people and even though their pastors were pushing to defeat Prop 8, the parishioners voted for it in droves. In fact, the margin of victory for Prop 8 can be directly attributed to African Americans of a certain age. Now that generation is fading. Should the SCOTUS uphold Prop 8 the next election after that should see enough of a demographic shift to repeal it. Remember, you read it here!

 

[TE999]

Exactly! The opponents to Prop 8 were caught off guard by the African American turnout. Obama's presidential campaign energized that portion of the black vote that usually stayed home. And what portion was that? AME church ladies and their husbands. Socially these are very conservative people and even though their pastors were pushing to defeat Prop 8, the parishioners voted for it in droves. In fact, the margin of victory for Prop 8 can be directly attributed to African Americans of a certain age. Now that generation is fading. Should the SCOTUS uphold Prop 8 the next election after that should see enough of a demographic shift to repeal it. Remember, you read it here!

I see that the Governator's speaking out against Prop 8...he's a typical weather vane politician...they find a parade and get in front of it.

The 9th Circus and the SCOTUS will give thumbs down on Prop 8, guaranteed.

 

[Liar]

Must be bizarre to be the Governor sometimes. He was and is against Prop 8 at the same time as he is the defendant in the case against it (Perry v. Schwarzenegger).

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Must be bizarre to be the Governor sometimes. He was and is against Prop 8 at the same time as he is the defendant in the case against it (Perry v. Schwarzenegger).

True. Here he is supposed to be the defendant and neither he nor his lawyer (the Attorney General) would defend the measure so it was up to the pathetic types who foisted the thing on us in the first place to try and justify their bigotry. The didn't do a very good job . . .