Religious organizations and legislators seek to thwart same-sex marriages

Local legislators, religious and non-governmental organizations plan to create a united front against the legalization of same-sex marriages, as well as to organize a public consultation for Mexicans to express whether they are in favor or against this type of unions and a campaign to defend the family headed by a man and a woman, among other proposals.

On June 19 Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) ruled that state laws that ban same-sex marriages are unconstitutional. 

Currently Mexico City, Quintana Roo and Coahuila are the only states that allow same-sex marriages.Gay couples can marry in the states that have not legalized same-sex marriages with a legal injunction (amparo judicial).

Eugenio Lira, secretary general of the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM); Arturo Farela, president of the National Fellowship of Christian Churches (Confraternice) and local legislators such as Sergio Barrón Pinto and Gloria Aguilar de Ita agree on defending marriage as the basis of procreation.

According to Lira, who is also auxiliary bishop of Puebla, the Supreme Court "exceeded its legal boundaries because it transformed a legal institution recognized throughout the centuries, both in the West and in Mexico." He added that this may correspond to "another power, the legislature. Jurists agree on this."

Manuel Rodríguez Montoya, president of Conciencia Social, composed of 40 NGOs, said: "We are not homophobic, but adoption is not valid because (these couples) decided to marry someone with whom they can not have children. We believe that the human rights of children are violated."

Manuel de Jesús León Escobedo, representative of the Red Unidos for Durango, said: "We have been called homophobic and discriminators, but that is not true. All we want is to protect the institution of family. We want a public consultation so that society makes the decision. We want the word marriage not to be used for same-sex alliances, but we are not opposed to relations between people of the same sex."

In Baja California, the Frente Ciudadano en Defensa al Matrimonio Sólo Hombre y Mujer said that the court's decision is a "clear ideological imposition" and added that it goes against "the ancient institution of marriage".

This legal form of union "is an aberration," said Arturo Farela Gutiérrez, president of the National Fellowship of Christian Churches. "It threatens the family unit and goes against the values ​​and principles on which Mexican society is founded."

Farela added that he fears that in the medium term "religious authorities that refuse to bless same-sex weddings will be persecuted."

Alfonso Arana Castro, congressman and chariman of the Political Coordination Board of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the State of Mexico, said that the state Congress will only approve same-sex marriages if religious associations authorize them too.

Francisco Treviño Cabello, local legislator for the National Action Party (PAN) in Nuevo León, is against the Supreme Court ruling and launched a campaign to prevent this type of unions.

In Tlaxcala, PAN legislator Julio César Álvarez García said that his party would vote against same-sex marriages.