Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Mexico City Legalizes Gay Marriage

So the culture wars continue.

Mexico City, one of Latin America's largest metropolises, on Monday legalized same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.

By a vote of 39 to 20, the city's legislative assembly approved revisions to the civil code to permit same-sex marriages. Five legislators abstained.

In a separate motion, the assembly voted 31 to 24 in favor of legalizing adoption by same-sex couples, with nine abstentions.


Will Latin America follow?

Uruguay, Ecuador and Colombia also have full civil unions for gay couples (although Ecuador does not permit adoption of children). And yesterday, Mexico City became a
jurisdiction
which allows full civil marriage rights, only a few days after Washington DC (which, of course, is still constrained by the Defense of Marriage Act). In much of this, Spain was the pioneer - proof that a largely Catholic country can allow for secular equality while guaranteeing freedom of worship and thought for the Catholic hierarchy which vehemently opposes any inclusion or rights for same sex couples.

The culture wars are hitting the world over. A great book on the subject is America Alone by Mark Steyn.

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