by Rex Wockner
International News Briefs
Mexico City's 5-month-old gay marriage law was upheld by the nation's Supreme Court on Aug. 5. The vote was 8-2.
The justices said marriage is a matter of equal rights and states' rights – and federal district rights. Mexico City is a federal district like Washington, D.C. "Those of us who are in favor of this are in favor of diversity and tolerance," said Justice Arturo Zaldivar.
Justice Fernando Franco added: "Procreation is not an essential element of marriage and neither does (same-sex marriage) interfere with the protection that the Constitution grants to the family and to procreation, because those who want to conceive are fully able to do so."
The court next will take up the question of whether the city's approval of gay adoption also is constitutional, and examine whether gay couples married in Mexico City are married elsewhere in the country.
The conservative national government had challenged the law, claiming it violated a vague clause in the Constitution that says, "Men and women are equal before the law. This protects the organization and development of the family."
The court determined that the clause does not amount to a definition of "family."
According to the NotieSe news agency, 173 male couples and 147 female couples have gotten married. In 27 of the marriages, one partner was a foreigner – from Austria, Canada, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Panama, Romania, Spain, the United States or Venezuela.
