A group of senators has proposed an initiative that would change Mexico’s federal code to define marriage as “the free union of two people.”
If such a move were approved it would place pressure on states to allow same-sex couples to marry.
At the end of September, the Jalisco state legislature passed an equality measure that permits same-sex couples to enter a legal contract enhancing their inheritance rights and eligibility for social security benefits. The law, however, falls short of giving same-sex couples the right to marry.
The proposal by legislators from the left-of-center Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (PRD) may gain enough support from centrist Partido de la Revolucion Institucional (PRI) senators to pass. But the measure could be doomed to failure if the conservative Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) vote in-block against the reform.
Historically, Mexican states have been free to legislate on the definition of marriage. In 2009, Mexico City became the first entity to approve marriage equality and in 2010, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that while not every state must grant same-sex marriages, they must all recognize those performed where they are legal.Few states have followed the capital’s lead and some have even tried to establish constitutional barriers to such laws ever being approved in the future.
In Mexico, as in the United States, federal law theoretically takes precedent over a state law that clashes with it. In practice, the law is only upheld only if the federal government decides to make an effort to enforce it.
Many federal laws in Mexico – outlawing smoking in public places, environmental regulations, etcetera – are not enforced in states that have no similar legislation on their books.
According to a survey conducted in July, 52 percent of Mexicans support gay marriage, while 44 percent remain opposed – a 13-point increase in support from a previous poll conducted in December 2012.