In a potential landmark decision for gay rights in Mexico, this country’s Supreme Court has ruled in favor of three couples seeking same-sex marriages in Oaxaca.
The tribunal agreed unanimously on December 5 that a state law banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The judges said Article 143 of Oaxaca’s Civil Code was discriminatory in defining marriage only as the union between a man and a woman.
Although legal in Mexico City since 2010, same-sex marriage remained prohibited in the rest of the country until now. The Supreme Court’s ruling sets a precedent allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry in Oaxaca and perhaps paving the way for others to wed elsewhere in Mexico.The Catholic Church was quick to denounce the decision, with Cardinal Jose Francisco Robles Ortega, the archbishop of Guadalajara, stating that the union of homosexuals “degrades” the institution of marriage.
“For Catholics, marriage will always be the union of a man and a woman, in a stable and loving relationship,” Robles said.
“We hope this will not be a precedent for every state in the nation,” he added, suggesting there are “other ways of protecting the rights of minorities without offending the great institution of marriage.”