Same-sex marriage in Campeche

Same-sex marriage became legal in the Mexican state of Campeche on 20 May 2016. In April 2016, Governor Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas submitted a same-sex marriage bill to Congress, which was approved on 10 May.[1]

In 2013, Campeche legalized civil unions which grant couples several of the rights and benefits of marriage.

Civil unions

On 11 April 2013, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) introduced a measure to legalize civil unions (Spanish: sociedad civil de convivencia) in the state.[2] The bill was unanimously passed by the Congress of Campeche on 20 December 2013, and while it covers both same-sex and opposite-sex couples, it specifically provides that it "shall not constitute a civil partnership of people living together in marriage and cohabitation." An additional distinction is that civil unions are not filed with the civil registry (like marriages), but with the Public Registry of Property and Commerce (Registro Público de la Propiedad y de Comercio).[3]

Since 2016, couples in civil unions may legally adopt children.[4]

Injunctions and court challenges

Same-sex unions performed in Mexican states

  Same-sex marriages performed.*
Stripes: Proportion of municipal coverage.

  Civil unions performed; marriage by amparo only.

  Marriage not performed (except by amparo) despite Supreme Court order.

  Marriage accessible by amparo or by traveling out of state.

*Legislation is not equal in all states. See details.

On 31 March 2014, a lesbian couple, María José Estrada Muñoz and Faride Zulema Cabrera Can, applied for a marriage license in San Francisco de Campeche, but were rejected based on the decision that same-sex couples can only enter into civil unions and cannot legally marry.[5] In July 2014, the Mexican Supreme Court declared that the marriage laws in the state were unconstitutional and ordered Congress to modify the Civil Code to allow same-sex marriages. It was later announced that the couple could marry after a district judge had granted them an amparo (injunction), but the law still had to be revised. The conservative National Action Party (PAN) stated it would abide by the ruling.[6] The couple married on 30 August 2014.[7] In September 2014, the Party of the Democratic Revolution announced that 8 couples, 5 from San Francisco de Campeche and 3 from Ciudad del Carmen, had filed for injunctions and that analysis of changing the marriage statutes was in progress.[8]

On 11 August 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in a 9–1 decision that Campeche's ban on same-sex couples adopting children was unconstitutional.[9][10][11] The court struck down article 19 of the civil union law which had outlawed adoption by civil partners.[12] Children's rights were cited as the main reason for the court's decision. The ruling set a constitutional precedent, meaning all bans in Mexico forbidding same-sex couples from adopting are unconstitutional and discriminatory.[13]

President of the Supreme Court, Luis María Aguilar Morales, voted with the majority and wrote the following in the ruling:[9]

I see no problem for a child to be adopted in a society of co-existence, which has precisely this purpose. Are we going to prefer to have children in the streets, which according to statistics exceed 100,000? We attend, of course, and perhaps with the same intensity or more, to the interests of the child.

On 23 September 2016, the Supreme Court finalised the ruling in the adoption case against Campeche and issued a nationwide jurisprudence which binds all lower court judges to rule in favor of same-sex couples seeking adoption and parental rights. Campeche's ban on same-sex adoption was lifted on 26 September.[4]

Marriage

On 4 April 2016, Governor Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas submitted a same-sex marriage bill to Congress.[14] Shortly after, the two largest parties in the state, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN), announced their support for the bill.[15] On 4 May, the president of the Board of Directors announced that the bill would be voted on sometime in May 2016.[16] On 10 May, Congress voted 34–1 to approve the same-sex marriage bill.[17] It was published in the official state gazette on 16 May and came into effect on 20 May.[18][19]

Article 157 of Campeche's Civil Code now reads as follows:[18]

• in Spanish: Establece que el matrimonio es la unión de dos personas para llevar una vida en común, en donde ambas se deben procurar respeto, igualdad y ayuda mutua. Debe celebrarse ante las autoridades del Registro Civil tal y como lo establece este Código y con las formalidades que éste exige.
• (It is established that marriage is the union of two people to build a life together, in which both partners must seek respect, equality and mutual assistance. Marriage is contracted by the authorities of the Civil Registry as set out in this Code and with the formalities it requires.)

Political party	Members	Yes	No	Abstain	Absent
Institutional Revolutionary Party	15	15
National Action Party	11	11
Ecologist Green Party	3	3
National Regeneration Movement	3	2	1
New Alliance Party	2	2
Party of the Democratic Revolution	1	1
Total	35	34	1

In June 2016, Adriana de Jesús Avilez Avilez was expelled from her party, the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), over her decision to vote against the legislation.[20]

On 14 June 2016, opponents of same-sex marriage filed an injunction against the new law, arguing that "it was unfairly imposed on Campechanos" and refuted allegations of homophobia.[21][22] On 7 July 2016, a federal judge ruled in favor of a stay.[23] Congress announced that the judge's injunction only bars the plaintiffs from marrying a partner of the same sex.[24] According to the president of Congress, Ramón Méndez Lanz, same-sex couples can continue to wed in the state.[24][25]

Statistics

The following table shows the number of same-sex marriages performed in Campeche since legalization in 2016, as reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.[26]

Number of marriages performed in Campeche

Year	Same-sex			Opposite-sex	Total	% same-sex
	Female	Male	Total
2016	10	6	16	4,505	4,521	0.35%
2017	15	10	25	4,310	4,335	0.58%
2018	19	13	32	4,366	4,398	0.73%
2019	22	13	35	4,575	4,610	0.76%

Public opinion

A 2017 opinion poll conducted by Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica found that 42% of Campeche residents supported same-sex marriage, one of the lowest in the nation. 55% were opposed.[27]

According to a 2018 survey by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 56% of the Campeche public opposed same-sex marriage. This was the third highest among Mexico's states, after Chiapas (59%) and neighboring Tabasco (56.5%).[28]

See also

• Same-sex marriage in Mexico
• LGBT rights in Mexico

References

1. "Mexico: Campeche Becomes 7th Mexican State with Same-Sex Marriage". The Perchy Bird Blog. 10 May 2016.
2. IV Sesión
3. "Aprueba Campeche la Ley de Sociedades Civiles de Convivencia". La Jornada.
4. Parejas del mismo sexo podrán adoptar en Campeche
5. "Campeche dice "no" a su primera boda gay". SDPnoticias.com.
6. "Aprueban matrimonio gay en Campeche PAN dice que está bien". SDP Noticias. 17 July 2014.
7. Cheche Icthe. "Tiene Campeche primera boda gay". Milenio.
8. "16 PAREJAS LÉSBICO-GAY, INTERESADAS EN FORMALIZAR UNIÓN". La Voz de la Nación. 8 September 2014. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
9. Browning, Bill (12 August 2015). "Mexican Supreme Court Strikes Down Adoption Ban". The Advocate.
10. "Mexican court lifts ban on adoption by gay couples". Vallarta Pride. 19 August 2015.
11. "SCJN invalidates article forbidding gay couples from adopting in Campeche". The Yucatan Times. 12 August 2015.
12. Garner, Glenn (12 August 2015). "Mexican Supreme Court Lifts Same-Sex Adoption Ban in Campeche". Out Traveler.
13. "Supreme Court sides with gay adoption". Mexico News Daily. 15 August 2015.
14. Gobernador de Campeche envía iniciativa al Congreso sobre bodas gay
15. PRI y PAN a favor del matrimonio igualitario en Campeche
16. Este mes, parejas del mismo sexo podrán unirse legalmente en Campeche
17. El Congreso aprueba la Ley de Matrimonios Igualitarios
18. Entra en vigor Ley de Matrimonios Igualitarios
19. "Rechazan posibilidad de adopción a parejas gay". Tribuna de Campeche. 2 June 2016.
20. "Morena expulsa a diputada que votó contra bodas gay en Campeche". Proceso (in Spanish). 30 June 2016.
21. "Por amparo contra ley de bodas gay". Tribuna Campeche. 14 June 2016.
22. Vázquez Campos, Roxana (14 June 2016). "Agrupaciones ponen amparo contra familias diversas". El Expreso de Campeche.
23. (in Spanish) Ordenan suspensiόn de matrimonios gay
24. (in Spanish) PROCEDIMIENTO DE CONGRESO EN MATRIMONIOS IGUALITARIOS FUE CORRECTO
25. (in Spanish) Casan a pareja gay en Cereso de Campeche
26. "Matrimonios, Entidad y municipio de registro, Sexo, Sexo". INEGI (in Spanish).
27. (in Spanish) Encuesta nacional 2017, Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica
28. (in Spanish) #Data | ¿Quién está en contra del matrimonio gay?

External links

• Iniciativas para reformar y derogar diversas disposiciones del Código Civil y reformar un numeral del Código Penal, ambos del Estado de Campeche, en materia de matrimonio igualitario y prohibición de matrimonio de menores de edad. Congress of Campeche (in Spanish)