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H/T kudo451
Mexico City’s marriage equality law went into effect today. Lesbian and gay couples who apply for marriage licenses today will be able to marry sometime in the next week to 10 days. Isn’t it incredible to contemplate that the three northern-most American national capitals now stand unequivocally for equality?
In 2003 Ottawa, Canada became the first American national capital to recognize marriage equality when the Ontario courts ruled for the entire province. The rest of Canada followed suit in 2005.
Yesterday the United States’ federal capital of Washington, D.C. joined the celebration. Box Turtle Bulletin reports “[A]bout 140 million Americans – about 46% of the nation’s population – live where there is some form of official notice of same-sex couples.”
And today, Mexico City, the 10 million-strong national capital of Mexico, has become the latest and largest American national capital to honor this fundamental human right of their citizens.
11 Comments
One Sweet Trifecta!
Yay! Our issues are such a rollercoaster these daysWith so many high high profile wins and losses. I’m feeling really comfortable that big picture, we’ve turned a corner and the middle is turning our way.
What about Buenos Aires?Last November a gay Buenos Aires couple, Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre, were given the right to marry by an Argentinian judge. They had originally planned to hold their wedding on World AIDS day, December 1st, however the ceremony was blocked the day before and they were forced to get married in another city.
However just over a week ago another judge in the Argentinian capital ruled that a second gay couple, Damián Bernath and Jorge Salazar, can get married. The wedding was yesterday and took place in Buenos Aires. In effect, Buenos Aires has marriage equality – which puts Washington in third place and Mexico City in fourth.
Until all couples are free to marry in Buenos Aires,I’m not counting it among the capital cities for equality. The couple that married there earlier this week were only able to do so because of the actions of a judge who ruled for them specifically, not for gay and lesbian couples in general. Buenos Aires is getting there, but it isn’t there quite yet.
It is absolutely worth mentioning that Uruguay passed a national civil unions law in 2008, a first in Latin America. As I understand it, the party now in power supports marriage equality. It could be that Montevideo is the next capital city to join the honor rolls.
Federal?So, Ottawa’s marriages are Federally recognized, Washington’s are not–which is true of Mexico City?
Ottawa became the first American national capitalto recognize marriage equality when Ontario courts ruled for equality for the entire province of Ontario. Similar rulings happened in other provinces in short order. The Canadian parliament passed a national marriage equality law a few years later, covering the whole country.
I think you’re correct that Mexico City marriages won’t necessarily be recognized right away in other Mexican states or cities.
¡Felicitaciones México!As a gay man from “Puerto Rico, USA” (politically speaking), and at the same time from “Puerto Rico, Latin America” (culturally and linguistically speaking), here’s my two centavos worth:
First off, ¡felicitaciones! to Mexico City. Mexico City’s recent marriage equality law gives hope to LGBT citizens residing in other parts of Latin America. Although some Latin American jurisdictions do recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships (second class acknowledgements at best), it’s gratifying to see that the voice of real equality has spoken loudly and clearly from Mexico City’s legislative assembly.
Other countries and regional jurisdictions of Latin America, an area still to a great extent under the medieval yoke of the Catholic Church, have quite a battle on their hands concerning LGBT rights. As we all know, the “Prada Pope” (as Pam would say) has divinely declared that we LGBT folks are not only “intrinsically disordered”, but also “gravely depraved”. Fortunately, with each passing day, more and more Latin Americans are no longer buying the Church’s unedifying doctrine on this issue.
As a close-to-home example of this increasingly enlightened attitude, the state-run University of Puerto Rico (of which I am a retired faculty member) is one of the few institutions of higher-education in the USA to offer health care benefits to same-sex partners of its faculty and staff. The university also bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation as part of its official campus-wide anti-discrimination policy.
Secondly, ¡felicitaciones! to the scribe who wrote “third American capital city” in the article’s headline to refer to Mexico City. It’s rewarding to know that he or she recognizes that the term “American” includes the entire area which stretches from the northernmost reaches of Alaska to the southernmost boundaries of Tierra del Fuego, not just the USA. While there is no English language equivalent of “estadounidense”, (“United Statesian”), I have noticed that the term “USAmerican” is increasingly being used in English to distinguish “estadounidenses” from “americanos” of other countries of the hemisphere.
Joe,
An out and proud intrinsically ordered, americano / USAmerican gay man from San Juan, Puerto Rico
Federal vs State Level I think that Mexico City is likely to resemble Washington more than Canada. The key difference is that in Mexico and the USA, marriage laws are defined at the state level; whereas in Canada marriage is under federal jurisdiction, with the provinces having a little bit of sway in terms of things like age limitations.
As Lurleen mentioned, by the time the federal government passed a marriage equality law, 8 of the 10 provinces and 1 of the three territories had already ruled that the opposite-sex restriction was unconstitutional. Where in the US and Mexico that might have been the end of the story, in Canada that made for an interesting situation where the federal government was sort of forced into taking action. They knew there was no way in the current legal and political climate that the last four jurisdictions would do any better at restricting marriage, and a supreme court ruling likely would have agreed with the provincial courts.
However, while marriages done in Mexico City may not be recognized elsewhere, there does seem to be some momentum. Several state level restrictions are being challenged and efforts are being made to recognize marriage in Sonora, Tabasco and Michoacan. But polls show the Mexican people, especially in older generations, are mostly opposed to same-sex marriage and to LGBT people in general.
advisory opinionAs i recall, the Canadian PM asked the Supreme Court for an advisory opinion before making the final legislative push. This advisory opinion, which was much like the earlier binding appeals court opinions on the subject, helped stiffen some spines in Parliament. From a US perspective, where it is not possible to solicit such advisory opinions, this was a fascinating mechanism to watch.
Que hermoso!This is wonderful! When I get a bf and are ready to take the plunge, great to know I have options in 2 spanish speaking countries (MX city and Spain) should the US still be delaying the inevitable,.
Viva el DF!
So if the trend is travelling south…does that mean Belize City, Guatemala City or Tegucigalpa will be next?