News
2007-03-17
First gay couple
unite in Mexico City, inaugurating new civil union law
An economist and
a journalist became the first couple united under Mexico
City's new gay civil union law Friday,
An economist and
a journalist became the first couple united under Mexico
City's new gay civil union law Friday, kissing while an
orchestra played ''Besame Mucho'' and police guarded
their white wedding tent filled with guests. The new
law, which took effect on Friday, grants same-sex couples
social benefits similar to those of legally married
heterosexual couples. It reflects a growing acceptance
of gay culture in what has traditionally been a macho
society, as well as Mexico City's willingness to join
the international debate on same-sex marriage rights.
The capital city is the second municipality in
the country to officially recognize gay civil unions,
and the first couple to take advantage of the new law
was journalist Antonio Medina, 38, and economist Jorge
Cerpa, 31. The two have been dating for four years and
three months.
They were united Friday in a plaza in front of
the government offices for Mexico City's Iztapalapa
borough, signing documents under a banner that read
''Civil Union Law: Your right to choose'' as dozens of
supporters yelled ''Bravo!'' and waved rainbow flags.
''With this law,
a history of exclusion comes to an end,'' Medina said.
''Today, the love that before did not dare speak its name
has now entered the public spotlight.''
City officials
also praised the event. ''Love now has one less
obstacle,'' said leftist city lawmaker Victor Hugo Cirigo,
one of the new law's biggest supporters.
The couple will
spend the weekend celebrating at a Mexican beach,
although they planned an extended honeymoon in
September with a trip to Canada.
The
left-dominated legislature of Mexico City, which is an
independent district similar to Washington, D.C.,
passed the law in November. The capital city was the
first in the country to approve such a law, but a
similar measure later approved in the northern state of
Coahuila went into effect first, at the end of January.
A couple of days later, a lesbian couple
officially registered their union, which is being
celebrated by liberal lawmakers but condemned by the
ruling National Action Party. The conservative party has
filed a court challenge claiming that same-sex unions
violate constitutional provisions protecting the
family.
The Mexican Roman
Catholic Church also has spoken out forcefully against
the law. But that hasn't discouraged the hundreds of lesbian
and gay couples who gathered en masse in Mexico City's
main central plaza, the Zocalo, on Valentine's Day to
announce their intentions to formalize their unions.
Lending support
to the cause, pop star Christian Chavez, a singer with
the Mexican pop group RBD, announced earlier this month that
he is gay after photographs of him kissing and
exchanging rings with another man in Canada surfaced
on the Internet.
''I don't want to
keep on lying and lie to myself because of fear,''
Chavez said in a statement posted on the group's Web site.
He received an outpouring of support from fans, who
lauded his courage. (Lisa J. Adams, AP)
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