Gay and lesbian couples on Wednesday
began applying for marriage licenses after a law legalizing such
unions took effect in the Mexican state of Coahuila.
Coahuila, which is bordered by Texas to
its north, is the first Mexican state to legislatively allow gay
couples to marry.
On Monday, September 1, an overwhelming
majority of lawmakers approved changes to the state's civil code,
giving gay and straight couples equal marital rights, including
adoption.
The changes, proposed by Leftist
Congressman Samuel Acevedo, alter the civil code's definition of
marriage from a “union between a man and a woman for the purpose of
procreation” to “a union between two people with the possibility
of procreation or adoption.”
Raul Vera Lopez, the Roman Catholic
bishop of Saltillo, and Luis Fernando Rodriguez Trejo, president of
the Mission Mexico-Saltillo of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, expressed their opposition to the law.
Coahuila previously recognized gay
couples with civil unions.
Gay couples can also marry in Mexico
City, where lawmakers approved a marriage law in 2009. Mexico City
is a federal district, not a state, much like the District of
Columbia. Such unions have also taken place in Quintana Roo, where
the state's civil code is gender neutral.