The U.S. Episcopal Church’s approval of gay and lesbian marriage, passed at its General Convention in Salt Lake City July 1 following on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s groundbreaking decision favoring gender-blind marriage just a few days earlier, appears not to have had an earthshaking effect — either positive or negative — on its sister province to the south, the Anglican Church of Mexico, despite close social and historical ties between the two churches.
However, the reaction from some Anglicans worldwide, notably in Africa and Central America, has been blistering. Rev. Jose Luis Mendoza-Barahona of Honduras, for example, said the new church decision is contrary to the Bible.
Even the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the church’s non-authoritarian spiritual leader, made a statement just before the U.S. bishops took their landslide decision, urging caution and attention to the “distress” and “ramifications for the Anglican Communion as a whole.”
But here in Mexico, although gay and lesbian rights sometimes appear to be following a path similar to and slightly behind the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court and Episcopal decisions have not so far elicited either notable praise or criticism.
“Roman Catholic clergy here, following the lead of Rome, always speak out against same-sex marriage, but I think if you asked most Mexican Anglican leaders, they’d say we’re not in favor of it, but we’re not against it — we’re not ready to make a statement either way,” said Rev. Alfonso Walls, the bilingual secretary general of the Anglican Church in Mexico and rector of a parish in Monterrey.
Although Walls (and everyone consulted for this article), stipulated that he was not speaking officially, he said that in Mexico he does not see the same impetus toward gay/lesbian marriage that exists in the United States, despite the fact that on June 12 the Mexican Supreme Court (in coincidental tandem with the U.S. high court decision which followed it about two weeks later) pleased gay activists with its declaration that any state denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples is acting unconstitutionally.
“Society here is conservative, but I think Mexicans have bigger fish to fry than same-sex marriage,” said Walls, who was born in Mexico City, spent long periods of time in the United States and now resides in Monterrey, Mexico.
“Mexicans are more worried about violence, security, poverty, health, family violence, oppression. I don’t think a lot of people here see sexual orientation as an issue of oppression.
“The U.S. is breaking communion with Africa and some parts of Central America,” he added.
With this, Walls seemed to echo Canterbury’s statement suggesting that the U.S. Episcopalians’ decision was headstrong. This was a moment when the church should be looking not inwards but outwards, Archbishop of Canterbury Welby cautioned, and the church should be focusing on people affected by terrorist and racist attacks worldwide, including those in Charleston, South Carolina.
However, Walls, who, besides his role in the Anglican Church of Mexico, works at a parish church, spoke of his personal beliefs, saying, “I don’t ask and don’t care about people’s sexual orientation.”
Francisco Moreno, the primate bishop of Mexico, said from Monterrey that he attended as a non-voting invitee the Episcopal Convention that just concluded, and thinks Mexican Anglicans will not accept same-sex marriage in the near future.
“The change has to come from the people. That’s what happened in the United States. If the people don’t approve, it won’t work.”
Mexico is an autonomous province in the Anglican church, explained Moreno, and is “aligned” with the Archbishop of Canterbury in core doctrines, such as who God is, but is not under Canterbury’s “control” in matters such as same-sex marriage and women priests.
“I think Canterbury respects what is happening in the United States,” Moreno underscored. “But the archbishop wanted them to take into account that this is a worldwide matter… It is very delicate; it can cause division.”
Indeed, U.S. Episcopalians’ decision in 2003 to accept an openly gay man, Gene Robinson, as a bishop, caused the loss of 2.5 percent of the church to splinter groups. That scenario, however, will probably not be repeated now, added Walls, since the disaffected U.S. Episcopalians are already gone.
Rev. Ramon Rios of St. Mark’s Church in Guadalajara noted that the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Mexico stipulated that “if any authority says no to a request for permission to marry, they are breaking the law.”
He said that Anglican same-sex marriages might take place in the future and that “clergy must have an open mind to give pastoral care in these matters.
“A same-sex couple asked if I would bless their marriage, but I told them I would have to consult the bishop so that it wouldn’t be interpreted wrongly. The bishop said no — that Mexicans are not prepared for this. A priest that did it would be defrocked.”
Rev. Fernando Montes de Oca, rector of San Jorge Anglican Church in Mexico City, said that he personally thinks “sexual orientation is not important — we all have the same need for God,” adding that, “I don’t believe homosexuality is unnatural.”
Further suggesting that Mexican Anglicans are reacting with equanimity, he notes that, “I haven’t heard any commentary yet” from other priests about the decision of U.S. Episcopalians.
Rev. Winston Welty of St. Andrew’s Church in Ajijic expressed unalloyed admiration for the move by U.S. Episcopalians, calling it “a wonderful decision … long overdue” and noting that the decision by the Mexican Supreme Court should make same-sex marriage possible everywhere in this country.
Based on the Mexican high court’s June 12 decision, the union of any couple who have been married in Mexico City and the two states (Quintana Roo and Coahuila) where gender-blind marriages have been allowed, must be recognized in all other states, thus securing benefits for them such as public health insurance, housing assistance and adoption.
In addition, all couples who go to a registrar’s office anywhere in Mexico to formally request marriage must be granted permission.
At least 17 same-sex couples have requested marriage permits in Guadalajara’s Registro Civil No. 1. Many states, including Jalisco, had already allowed civil unions between same-sex couples, which grant them many rights. The state’s Civil Code, however, has yet to be amended to reflect the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality.