Mexico's Supreme Court strikes down same-sex marriage ban

Same-sex marriage has effectively been legalised throughout Mexico after an historic Supreme Court ruling.

Last Friday (June 12), the court ruled that it is unconstitutional for Mexican states to bar same-sex marriages, the New York Times reports. Just one of the nation’s 31 states – Coahuila – has officially legalised same-sex marriage, as has the federal district of Mexico City.

However, the court’s ruling does not invalidate any state laws, meaning that gay couples denied the right to marry will have have to make individual appeals to the court before they are allowed to wed. However, in the wake of the ruling any judges and courts throughout Mexico would be obliged to grant the application.

“Without a doubt, gay marriage is legal everywhere,” Estefanía Vela, a legal scholar at a Mexico City university told the New York Times.

“If a same-sex couple comes along and the code says marriage is between a man and a woman and for the purposes of reproduction, the court says, ‘Ignore it, marriage is for two people’.”

The ruling makes Mexico the fourth Latin American nation to allow same-sex marriage after Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil – and the fifth country worldwide to adopt the measure this year alone after Finland, Slovenia, Ireland and Greenland.

Mexico’s Supreme Court strikes down same-sex marriage ban

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