Mexico Supreme Court overturns same-sex marriage ban
The court deemed all bans on same-sex marriage ‘unconstitutional’.
Mexico’s Supreme Court has struck down a law banning gay marriage in the state of Jalisco.
Two gay couples challenged the state’s civil code after their were denied the right to marry after their applications to do so were rejected.
Nevertheless, the nation’s highest court has once again ruled that move discriminated against the LGBT community and is therefore unconstitutional.
It added that state authorities could not “deny benefits to the claimants or set charges related to the regulation of marriage.”
Some states have already begun to overturn bans, and marry same-sex couples, but earlier this year a decision was made to end bans a country-wide level in Mexico.
It was in June that a court first ruled that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, effectively legalising it.
The ruling stated: “As the purpose of matrimony is not procreation, there is no justified reason that the matrimonial union be heterosexual, nor that it be stated as between only a man and only a woman.
“Such a statement turns out to be discriminatory in its mere expression.”
In April, a court reached a similar decision, stating that the bans are “totally unjustifiable.”
“For all of those relevant effects, homosexual couples can find themselves in an equivalent situation to heterosexual couples, in such a way that their exclusion from both institutions is totally unjustified.”
Following the decision, Mexico City law professor Estefanía Vela Barba said: “Without a doubt, gay marriage is legal everywhere.
“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.
However, same-sex marriage has not been specifically written into law, and same-sex couples may still require a judge’s approval before being wed.
