A Catholic Mexico Legalized Same-Sex Marriage, and the World Barely Noticed Samantha Cowan - TakePart
go to original June 15, 2015

A gay pride parade in Mexico, 2014. (Alfredo Estrella/Getty Images)

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Mexico for almost two weeks, but it took a while for the world to catch on to the landmark move for the Latin American country.

On June 3, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that state laws banning same-sex marriage are discriminatory.

“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,” the ruling reads, according to The New York Times. “Such a statement turns out to be discriminatory in its mere expression.”

But that doesn’t mean same-sex marriage is as easy for every gay couple in the country as it is for heterosexual couples. The ruling is what’s known as a “jurisprudential thesis,” and it does not overturn any state’s individual law.

What it does do is allow couples who have been denied a marriage license to appeal their case to a district judge on an individual basis. Based on the Supreme Court ruling, those judges are required to grant marriage licenses to individual couples.

It’s an extra step straight couples don’t have to take—and one that could cost major bucks in court fees and time waiting for a hearing—but it effectively allows gay people to wed throughout the country.

Read the rest at TakePart

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