Additionally, civil unions are performed in Mexico City and the states of Coahuila, Campeche, Michoacán, and Tlaxcala.įurther information: Homosexuality in Mexico § Pre-Columbian MexicoĪcceptance of homosexuality and transgender identities has been documented among various indigenous peoples of Mexico, most notably the Isthmus Zapotecs and Yucatán Mayas. Same-sex marriages are performed without any restrictions in Mexico City, Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Jalisco, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Sinaloa, Quintana Roo, and Zacatecas (pending), as well as in certain municipalities in Guerrero. They include, among others, the 2011 amendment to Article 1 of the Federal Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Political and legal gains have been made through the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution, leftist minor parties such as the Labor Party and Citizen's Movement, the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, and more recently the left-wing National Regeneration Movement. While these two rulings did not directly strike down Mexico's same-sex marriage and adoption bans, they ordered every single judge in the country to rule in favor of same-sex couples seeking marriage and/or adoption rights. The Supreme Court issued a similar ruling pertaining to same-sex adoptions in September 2016. However, the process is lengthy as couples must request an injunction ( Spanish: amparo) from a judge, a process that opposite-sex couples do not have to go through.
Laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman were deemed unconstitutional by the court and thus every justice provider in the nation must validate same-sex unions. On 3 June 2015, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation released a "jurisprudential thesis" in which the legal definition of marriage was changed to encompass same-sex couples. Visible and well-attended LGBT marches and pride parades have occurred in Mexico City since 1979 and in Guadalajara since 1996. Since the early 1970s, influenced by the United States gay liberation movement and the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, a substantial number of LGBT organizations have emerged. Change is slower in the hinterlands, however, and even in large cities, discomfort with change often leads to backlashes. This is most marked in the largest metropolitan areas, such as Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Tijuana, where education and access to foreigners and foreign news media are greatest. As the influence of foreign and domestic cultures (especially from more cosmopolitan areas like Mexico City) grows throughout Mexico, attitudes are changing.
Tolerance of sexual diversity in certain indigenous cultures is widespread, especially among Isthmus Zapotecs and Yucatán Mayas. Laws against public immorality or indecency, however, have been used to prosecute persons who engage in them. The intellectual influence of the French Revolution and the brief French occupation of Mexico (1862–67) resulted in the adoption of the Napoleonic Code, which decriminalized same-sex sexual acts in 1871. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) rights in Mexico have expanded in recent years, in keeping with worldwide legal trends. Joint adoption legal in Mexico City and 17 states Same-sex marriage in Mexico City and 25 states (recognized nationwide) Sexual orientation protection nationwide since 2003 ( see below) In practice, however, outed LGBT soldiers are subject to severe harassment and are often discharged. Officially, there is no law or policy preventing them from serving, and applicants are not questioned on the subject. Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name in Mexico City and 12 statesĪmbiguous, LGBT soldiers are in a "legal limbo".