But LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination and violence in the country\u2014the fight for full LGBTQ+ equality continues<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, the local congresses of the Mexican states of Guerrero and Tamaulipas made history by becoming the last of Mexico\u2019s 32 states to end their local bans on same-sex marriage. The country\u2019s LGBTQ+ rights movement had been on a roll for the last month, after seeing same-sex marriage laws passed in three other states, Durango, Tabasco and the state of Mexico (which comprises most of the suburbs of Mexico City, and is the country\u2019s most populous).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the culmination of a years-long, state-by-state struggle to win the right to marry that began when Mexico City became the first place to legalize same-sex marriage in Mexico in 2009. Back then, only seven countries had legalized same-sex marriage; today 34 do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But while LGBTQ+ Mexicans are celebrating, the fight for queer equality and acceptance still has a long way to go. Violence and discrimination against queer people is so endemic in Mexico that the BBC recently declared it the second-most dangerous country in the world for trans people<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite complicated,\u201d says Ninde MolRe, advocacy director of the LGBTQ+ activist group M\u00e9xico Igualitario (Equal Mexico). \u201cFinally, we are going to be citizens in all of the country and we won\u2019t have to move to other towns and cities to have the right to marry. But we still have a long journey for all our rights.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The fight for same-sex marriage in Mexico began more than 13 years ago when Mexico City passed the nation\u2019s first same-sex marriage law. Under Mexico\u2019s federal system, marriage is an issue that is controlled by the individual states, so the fight for equal marriage required buy-in from legislators across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first six years after Mexico City passed a same-sex marriage law, only three other states allowed it: Coahuila, which is up by the U.S. border and passed its own law; its neighbour Chihuahua, whose governor simply stopped enforcing the ban; and Quintana Roo, where you\u2019ll find Canc\u00fan, whose administration realized its marriage statutes were already gender-neutral and then allowed same-sex couples to start marrying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had a right to marry under the non-discrimination clause of the federal constitution. Unfortunately, under the Mexican judicial system, the Supreme Court cannot simply strike down existing laws. Instead, the court\u2019s \u201cjurisprudential thesis\u201d allowed individual couples to sue their states for an injunction or amparo<\/em> to obtain a marriage licence. While this route was effective, it was time-consuming and expensive, putting it out of reach for many couples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[The Supreme Court case] changed the movement because if the legislators didn\u2019t do their work, we were going to force them. It changed a lot because the law allowed a lot of people to have their rights even if the politicians didn\u2019t want to change the law,\u201d MolRe says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The decision also kick-started action to demand state congresses update their marriage laws. But while all states now allow same-sex couples to marry, that\u2019s not the full story. Two states, Chihuahua and Guanajuato, only allow it because governors have stopped enforcing laws that remain on the books\u2014a decision that could be reversed by a future governor. Another three\u2014Aguascalientes, Nuevo Le\u00f3n and Chiapas\u2014have had their bans on same-sex marriage invalidated by the Supreme Court under a rare process that allows the Court to invalidate laws that it finds unconstitutional only if they\u2019re challenged shortly after they\u2019re passed. All five need to have their laws formally amended to give same-sex couples legal certainty of their rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The states have not been consistent about updating their laws about adoption and recognition of parenthood for same-sex couples. Although the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that same-sex couples must have equal access to adoption, 12 states maintain bans on same-sex couple adoption in their laws. Adoption bans and administrative procedures that don\u2019t recognize same-sex parents can create expensive and stressful legal headaches for queer parents and would-be parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the main drivers of legislative progress on LGBTQ+ issues since 2018 has been the rise to power of Mexican president Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador and his National Regeneration Movement party (called MORENA in Spanish) in the federal and many state governments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n MORENA is a left-wing populist movement that views itself as leading a revolution in human and social rights, including the rights of queer people, women and racial minorities. L\u00f3pez Obrador campaigned on a promise to support same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights<\/a>; in power, the party has passed bills on many LGBTQ+ issues, including marriage, adoption, hate crimes, gender recognition and conversion therapy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Activists say MORENA\u2019s record remains a mixed bag<\/a>. Many of the party\u2019s broad coalition members come from Evangelical Christian groups<\/a> and trans-exclusionary radical feminists who oppose LGBTQ+ rights, and these elements have thrown up roadblocks and delays on many issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMORENA has allowed many changes in many states that didn\u2019t want to recognize many rights, like abortion, equal marriage, LGBTQ+ rights, gender identity. But in MORENA there are many trans-exclusionary feminists who are pushing against rights for LGBTQ+ people. That\u2019s why equal marriage is advancing, but we don\u2019t have this advance in gender identity recognition,\u201d MolRe says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some activists say that L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s reforms to the justice system, which have involved a massive militarization of policing<\/a> and the public service, ostensibly to crack down on drug cartels and corruption, have put queer people in greater danger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the last two years, we\u2019ve been seeing militarization from the government. It\u2019s harmful for all human rights. Many of the attacks on LGBTQ+ people in general come from police and military,\u201d MolRe says. \u201cIn a meeting with the UN, some trans women shared their stories about being harassed by cartels, police and military.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tragically, the numbers bear out this fear. In 2019, at least 117 LGBTQ+ people were murdered<\/a> in Mexico, a 27 percent increase from the previous year, more than half of whom were trans women. Ironically for a left-wing government, deep cuts to social services and government agencies have worsened social conditions for many of the country\u2019s most vulnerable, including the poor, women and queer people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the last few years we have seen an increase in violence in public spaces, in malls, in public bathrooms. This year we had two attacks on two lesbian couples in the streets in Mexico City. That was really an alarm for the movement, because we always thought Mexico City was a safe place for queer people in the country,\u201d MolRe says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had to move here from Hidalgo because of my activism because I\u2019m a lesbian. I came to the city because I was looking for a safe place, but in the last two years, the violence has increased. We have seen a change in the law and the authorities, [but] society is becoming more intolerant. We are really worried because we don\u2019t know where to move,\u201d she says. \u201cSome towns are really open to LGBTQ+ people, but it depends where you are and who you are, because it intersects with racism and classism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the headline issue around migrants in Mexico is large numbers of people attempting to enter the United States, Mexico is also a destination for queer refugees from across Latin America, as well as a large number of queer internal migrants who relocate to larger cities because they fear for their safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But activists say the Mexican law does not take into consideration the particular needs of queer migrants. Mexico does not recognize anti-LGBTQ+ violence as a reason to claim asylum, leading many queer migrants from Latin America to press on to the United States and Canada where they hope to reach asylum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn Latin America, the situation for LGBTQ+ people is very hard. They actually are immigrating because of the violence against them. We need that recognition from the government, so they can have a job and buy things,\u201d MolRe says. \u201cWhat we saw is that they are asking for asylum in Canada and [the] U.S., because when they arrive here they see that things aren\u2019t so good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, internal migrants can face difficulties accessing services when they are forced to relocate across state lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMexico doesn\u2019t recognize yet this kind of movement inside the country that we are facing because of the increase in the violence in general,\u201d MolRe says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the danger, Mexico\u2019s LGBTQ+ communities are increasingly organized and fighting back to claim their rights as citizens. Pride marches are more and more common across the country, and LGBTQ+ activists routinely demonstrate in front of state legislatures during debates on queer issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n LGBTQ+ activists appear to be remarkably unified on the key issues they want to see advanced in law: passing laws to allow legal gender change (currently legal in only 19 states) and non-binary identities (only legal in Mexico City); passing hate crime laws (currently only passed in 17 states); and banning conversion therapy (currently banned in 11 states, with a federal ban currently being debated in congress). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The push for greater LGBTQ+ rights has found a natural ally in Mexico\u2019s strong women\u2019s movement, which has been galvanized by government cutbacks to social services that support women and a staggering rise in femicides<\/a>. The women\u2019s movement won a major victory this year when the Supreme Court ruled that state bans on abortion are unconstitutional, but now must work state by state to get legislators to remove bans from state penal codes, just as the LGBTQ+ movement had to do with equal marriage. Not only is the fight similar, but anti-LGBTQ+ legislators frequently tie their moral opposition to queer rights with their opposition to abortion, underscoring how the two movements are inextricably related. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the obvious challenges, Mexico\u2019s queer people have made remarkably quick progress on securing their legal rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe long road to marriage equality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Unfinished business<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Mexico\u2019s new president brings LGBTQ+ progress, but rising militarization and violence are a growing concern<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Queer migrants face particular risks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How LGBTQ+ activists are fighting back<\/h3>\n\n\n\n