The Mexican Supreme Court (la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion) on Monday declared a law in the state of Oaxacan limiting marriage to heterosexual couples to be in violation of the country’s constitution.
According to the Washington Blade, the court cited two groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court civil rights cases, Loving v. Virginia and Brown v. Board of Education, in its 56-page ruling.
“The historic disadvantages that homosexuals have suffered have been amply recognized and documented: public scorn, verbal abuse, discrimination in their places of employment and in the access of certain services, including their exclusion from certain aspects of public life. In comparative law it has been argued that discrimination that homosexual couples have suffered when they are denied access to marriage is analogous with the discrimination suffered by interracial couples at another time.”
Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, Mexico’s court does not have the authority to simultaneously strike down laws throughout the nation. However, it’s clear that the ruling paves the way for Mexico to legalize marriage equality now that such bans have been deemed unconstitutional.
The federal municipality of Mexico City first legalized such unions in 2009, and the Supreme Court has previously ruled that those marriages must be recognized nationwide.
Oaxaca lawmakers filed proposals aimed at amending the state’s civil code after the court unanimously struck down the state’s marriage law more than two months ago.Alex Ali Mendez Diaz, a lawyer who represented the three couples which filed the challenge, told BuzzFeed.com that the delay in issuing a formal decision suggests there may have been disagreement between some of the justices on the court.
“Without a doubt, we have made history … in Mexico,” Mendez told BuzzFeed. “The next step is to extend this experience to other parts of the country.”
by Carlos Santoscoy
Source – On Top Magazine
