Mexico’s Supreme Court will decide the future of marriage equality in Yucatán.
The case will establish an important precedent on how resolutions made at the national level are to be carried out by states.
In 2015 Mexico’s supreme court ruled that it was unconstitutional to prevent people of the same gender to marry. However, several jurisdictions including Yucatán have refused to ratify the decision.
In a closed-door, secret vote in 2019, Yucatán’s Congress failed once again to pass a law that would align state law with the 2015 decision by the Supreme Court. The move was seen by critics as backward and cowardly.
Now gay-marriage advocates are in high spirits.
“Thing are looking good for us in court. It is clear that Yucatán has been actively discriminating against its LGBTQ+ population and stubbornly refusing to comply with a federal mandate,” said Alex Orué, spokesperson for El Colectivo por la Protección de Todas las Familias en Yucatán, or The Collective for the Protection of All Families in Yucatán (PTFY).
Despite the best efforts of conservative factions within the state government, gay marriage has been possible in Yucatán since 2013, but only through the use of a legal recourse known an amparo.
Activists such as those at PTFY believe that marriage should be readily open to all without the need of resorting to legal maneuvering.
Only 30% of Mexicans were pro-marriage equality in 2017, according to a poll by Animal Politico. However, the numbers skew more favorably among young people, exceeding a 60% approval rate.
