The conservative Nation Action Party of President Felipe Calderon has vowed to challenge the new law in the courts. However, homosexuality is increasingly accepted in Mexico, with gay couples openly holding hands in parts of the capital and an annual gay pride parade drawing tens of thousands. The bill calls for changing the definition of marriage in the city’s civil code, which describes it as the union of a man and a woman. The new definition will be “the free uniting of two people.’’
The change would allow same-sex couples to adopt children, apply for bank loans together, inherit wealth, and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse, rights they were denied under civil unions allowed in the city.
“We are so happy,’’ said Temistocles Villanueva, 23, a film student who celebrated by passionately kissing his boyfriend outside the city’s assembly.
Only seven countries allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. In the United States, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Iowa permit same-sex marriage.
Argentina’s capital became the first Latin American city to legalize same-sex civil unions in 2002. Four other Argentine cities later did the same, as did Mexico City in 2007 and some Mexican and Brazilian states. Uruguay alone has legalized civil unions nationwide.
Many people in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, and the dominant Roman Catholic Church has announced its opposition.
“They have given Mexicans the most bitter Christmas,’’ said Armando Martinez, president of the College of Catholic Attorneys in Mexico. “They are permitting adoption and in one stroke of the pen have erased the term mother and father.’’
City lawmaker Victor Romo, a member of the mayor’s leftist party, called it a historic day.
“For centuries unjust laws banned marriage between blacks and whites or Indians and Europeans,’’ he said. “Today all barriers have disappeared.’’
