Same-sex marriage in Jalisco

Same-sex marriage is legal in the Mexican state of Jalisco, following a unanimous ruling on 26 January 2016 by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. However, some municipalities refused to marry same-sex couples until being ordered by Congress to do so, which happened on 12 May 2016.[1] Civil unions for same-sex couples had also been legal in Jalisco since 1 January 2014 following approval of a law allowing such unions by Congress in October 2013, but this law was struck down on procedural grounds in September 2018.[2][3]

Marriage
LGBT portal

Civil unions

In April 2013, deputies of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), Citizens' Movement (MC) and an independent deputy presented the Free Coexistence Act (Spanish: Ley de Libre Convivencia) to Congress.[4] The Act established that same-sex civil unions can be performed in the state, as long as they are not considered marriages. It did not legalize adoption and mandated that civil unions be performed with a civil law notary.[4][5] On 31 October 2013, the Congress of Jalisco approved the Act in a 20-15 vote,[2] one abstained and three were absent.[5] The law took effect on 1 January 2014.[3]

Political party Members Yes No Abstain Absent
Institutional Revolutionary Party 17 15 1 1
National Action Party 13 11 2
Party of the Democratic Revolution 2 2
Ecologist Green Party of Mexico 1 1
Citizens' Movement 5 1 3 1
Independent 1 1
Total 39 20 15 1 3

On 13 September 2018, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation struck down the law on procedural grounds.[6][7]

Marriage
See also: Same-sex marriage in Mexico § México Igualitario Project

After filing for an injunction, a lesbian couple was able to become the first same-sex couple to marry in the state on 14 December 2013.[8] In December 2013, 12 couples of the same sex—eight women and four men—filed an injunction after each of their requests for a marriage license was denied. The injunction was granted on 12 June 2014.[9]

Same-sex unions performed in Mexican states
  Same-sex marriages performed.*
Stripes: Proportion of municipal coverage.
  Civil unions performed; marriage by amparo only.
  Marriage not performed (except by amparo) despite Supreme Court order.
  Marriage accessible by amparo or by traveling out of state.
*Legislation is not equal in all states. See details.

In January 2014, a male couple went to the Civil Registry in Guadalajara and were denied a marriage license based on Article 258 of the State Civil Code, which limited marriage to one man and one woman. They filed for an injunction in the Fourth District Court.[10] On 8 January 2015, because Guadalajara municipal officials had challenged the injunction, the case was elevated to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN).[11] The couple received the injunction, but still contested the constitutionality of Jalisco's Civil Code.[12] The SCJN announced on 15 April 2015 that it would review article 258 of the State Civil Code which described marriage as "an institution of public character and social interest, through which a man and a woman decide to share a state of life in search of personal fulfillment and the foundation of a family".[13] On 24 March 2014, ten same-sex couples went to the registry office in Guadalajara,[14][15] and were each denied their request for a marriage license. With the support of CLADEM, they filed for an injunction.[16]

In June 2014, PRI Congressman Héctor Pizano Ramos introduced legislation to amend the Civil Code of Jalisco to legalize same-sex marriage.[17] After a national ruling from the SCJN labeling all bans and heterosexual definitions of marriage unconstitutional on 12 June 2015, it was announced on 17 June 2015 that Jalisco would begin work on amending the Civil Code after the ruling's official publication in the judicial gazette.[18] On 26 November 2015, the First Chamber of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice declared an article of the Jalisco Civil Code, which prevented same-sex marriage, unconstitutional.[19] The issue was then sent to the plenary which held a first hearing on 21 January 2016.

On 26 January 2016, the Mexican Supreme Court voted unanimously to declare the Civil Code unconstitutional for limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. Since at least 8 of the 11 Justices ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, the articles mentioned in Jalisco's Civil Code would be struck down once the ruling was published in the judicial gazette and a new gender-neutral text from the Court would override the existing text upon publication in Jalisco's state gazette and the federal gazette. Following all three publications, civil registries in the state would be ordered to marry all couples.[20][21] In the meantime, the mayors of Guadalajara, Tlaquepaque and Zapopan ordered the civil registries in their jurisdictions to start marrying same-sex couples.[22] On 21 April 2016, the Supreme Court ruling was printed in the Official Diary of the Mexican Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación).[23] On 23 April, the ruling was published in Jalisco's state gazette.[24]

In March 2016, Puerto Vallarta's Civil Registry told the media that the Jalisco State Civil Registry Directory had changed all marriage licenses to gender-neutral on 22 March 2016 and that couples could already begin receiving them.[25] Mayor Arturo Dávalos Peña officiated the weddings of two same-sex couples on 20 April 2016, which were the first same-sex marriages recorded in the resort city.[26]

On 12 May 2016, the Congress of Jalisco instructed all of the state's municipalities to perform same-sex marriages.[27] According to a local LGBT group, four municipalities were known to have refused to marry at least one same-sex couple following the Supreme Court ruling in January (La Barca, Ocotlán, Santa María de los Ángeles and Tepatitlán).[28]

The Supreme Court ruling also struck down the state's same-sex adoption ban.[23][29] As of May 2016, the municipality of Guadalajara had already received five applications of adoption by same-sex couples.[28]

While same-sex marriage has been legal since 2016, the unconstitutional ban on such marriages has not yet been repealed from state law. On 29 June 2017, Deputy Claudia Delgadillo González introduced to Congress a new bill modifying articles 258, 260 and 267 of the Civil Code, removing the heterosexual definition of marriage and inserting a gender-neutral definition.[30]

Statistics

The following table shows the number of same-sex marriages performed in Jalisco since legalization in 2016, as reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.[31]

Number of marriages performed in Jalisco
Year Same-sex Opposite-sex Total % same-sex
Female Male Total
201619612031637,60037,9160.83%
201726519646137,29537,7561.22%
201829321550835,05335,5611.43%

Public opinion

A 2017 opinion poll conducted by Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica found that 42% of Jalisco residents supported same-sex marriage. 54% were opposed.[32]

According to a 2018 survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), 34% of the Jalisco public opposed same-sex marriage, the sixth lowest in Mexico after Mexico City (29%), Baja California (31%), Sonora (31%), Querétaro (32%), and México (34%).[33]

See also

References
  1. (in Spanish) Acata Congreso resolución de SCJN sobre matrimonios igualitarios
  2. "Jalisco, cuna de charros y tequila, da primer paso hacia el matrimonio gay" (in Spanish). CNN México. 1 November 2013. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013.
  3. Same sex civil unions now approved in Jalisco - but they won't be called marriage Archived 2016-01-16 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Jalisco aprueba ley para uniones gay... pero recortada". Animal Político. Elephant Publishing, LLC. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
  5. "Acuerdo PRD-PRI, clave para aprobar Libre Convivencia" (in Spanish). El Informador. 1 November 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
  6. Corte invalida Ley de Libre Convivencia de Jalisco
  7. SCJN invalida Ley de Libre Convivencia en Jalisco
  8. TolucaGarcia, Michelle (15 December 2013). "Lesbian Couple First to Marry in Mexican State". Advocate.com. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  9. "Otra pareja gay obtiene amparo federal para contraer matrimonio". jornadajal.com.mx.
  10. UNIÓN JALISCO, Redes de Información y Educación del Siglo XXI de EL UNIVERSAL y UNO TV. "Pareja de hombres busca segundo matrimonio civil en Jalisco". unionjalisco.mx.
  11. Maricarmen Rello. "Con amparo, buscan matrimonio parejas del mismo sexo". Milenio.
  12. "Logran matrimonio gay en Jalisco y van contra código civil". Noticias de Chihuahua – Entrelineas.
  13. "A revisión, definición del matrimonio en Jalisco". EL INFORMADOR.
  14. "Video: Luchan por matrimonio gay en México". telemundo40.com. Archived from the original on 2014-11-03.
  15. "Cladem: ayuntamiento de Guadalajara negó casar a 10 parejas del mismo sexo, pese al precedente legal". jornadajal.com.mx.
  16. Parejas lésbico-gay inician lucha jurídica para casarse Archived 2014-11-03 at the Wayback Machine
  17. "Buscan avalar matrimonios gay en Jalisco". elsiglodetorreon.com.mx.
  18. "Casi listo Jalisco para los matrimonios entre personas del mismo sexo". Proyecto Diez.
  19. "Mexican top court rules in favor of gay marriage". La Prensa. 27 November 2015.
  20. Inconstitucional, prohibir matrimonio gay en Jalisco: SCJN
  21. MEXICO: Same-Sex Marriage Legalized In Jalisco State After Unanimous Ruling By Supreme Court
  22. (in Spanish) Jalisco: Ordenan a registros no negar trámites a gays
  23. ACCIÓN DE INCONSTITUCIONALIDAD 28/2015
  24. (in Spanish) Actión de inconstitucionalidad El Estado de Jalisco, Periódico Oficial
  25. (in Spanish) YA HAY ACTAS MATRIMONIALES PARA PERSONAS DEL MISMO SEXO EN PUERTO VALLARTA
  26. "First same-sex couples married in Puerto Vallarta". Puerto Vallarta Daily News. 20 April 2016.
  27. (in Spanish) Quieren gays adopter Archived 2016-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
  28. "Exhortan a Ejecutivo a cumplir con matrimonios gays" (in Spanish). El Informador. 12 May 2016.
  29. "Procedería adopción gay en Jalisco". mural.com (in Spanish). 8 February 2016.
  30. (in Spanish) DIPUTADA BUSCA MODIFICAR CÓDIGO CIVIL PARA DAR CLARIDAD A MATRIMONIO ENTRE PERSONAS DEL MISMO SEXO
  31. "Matrimonios, Entidad y municipio de registro, Sexo, Sexo". INEGI (in Spanish).
  32. (in Spanish) Encuesta nacional 2017, Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica
  33. (in Spanish) #Data | ¿Quién está en contra del matrimonio gay?
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