Gay Marriage Legal In Mexico? The Fine Print You're Not Reading

México seems to be taking a couple of steps forward towards marriage equality. Since 2009, several actions have been taken to achieve the legalization of gay marriage. Between then and now, five states approved the civil union between members of the LGBT community, legal marriage was approved in 3 states: Mexico City, Coahuila and Quintana Roo, and Institutions that provide benefits and health services agreed to treat couples of the same sex equally.

Two weeks ago, Mexico’s Supreme Court effectively legalized same-sex marriage after finding that state laws restricting marriage only to heterosexual couples were discriminatory. The new ruling states: “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.”

This new statement is another historic event that opens the door to all entities in the country to recognize marriage equality, and it’s a decisive advance in the fight to protect and made visible all fundamental rights that every person should have in a society that aims to be built with legal rights and freedom.

5, 297 couples have gotten married in Mexico City since same-sex marriage was legalized within its own borders in 2009.