by Rex Wockner
In a 9-2 vote Aug. 16, Mexico's Supreme Court upheld the portion of Mexico City's same-sex marriage law that lets married gay and lesbian couples adopt.
In two other August rulings, the court had upheld the main part of the marriage law and ruled that same-sex couples who marry in Mexico City are validly married everywhere in the nation, in all 31 states.
Human Rights Watch said the trio of rulings confirmed "that the state cannot withhold any legal rights on the grounds of a person's sexual orientation and gender identity."
"This decision will have resonance for courts throughout the continent for protecting the basic human rights of LGBT people," said the group's Juliana Cano Nieto.
Mexico City's legalization of same-sex marriage and adoption had been targeted by the federal attorney general, whose office said the moves undermined "family" and the interests of children.
The court decided, however, that married heterosexuals are just one kind of "family" and that children's interests are served by having a loving family regardless of their parents' sex.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Mexico City, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C. Mexico City same-sex marriages are recognized throughout the nation. Two other U.S. states – New York and Maryland – recognize, as full marriages, same-sex marriages that were entered into elsewhere. California recognizes both same-sex marriages from elsewhere and same-sex marriages that took place in California – if the marriage in question occurred before the November 2008 passage of Proposition 8.
Same-sex couples can adopt in Belgium, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Mexico City and 16 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. In addition, a gay or lesbian partner can adopt his or her partner's child in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway and 25 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.
