The upcoming weddings of six gay and
lesbian couples near the tourist destination city of Cancun, Mexico
have been suspended, La Reforma reported.
The weddings were expected to take
place later this month after two gay couples said their lawyers
successfully argued in front of judges that the Civil Code of the
Mexican state of Quintana Roo does not specifically bar such
marriages from taking place because the state's marriage application
is gender neutral.
Quintana Roo Secretary of State Lois
Gonzalez Flores has ordered a review of the legality of such
marriages.
Patricia Novelo, the spokeswoman for
the gay rights group Diversity Collective, announced that she married
her partner in the state in November by exploiting the loophole and
that a second gay couple had as well.
Novelo and gay travel groups said they
were preparing to market the state as a destination for gay couples
to marry. Spanish news agency EFE had earlier reported that travel
agencies on average receive about 200 requests per month from gay
tourists wishing to marry in the Mexican Caribbean.
The city-state of Mexico City legalized
gay marriage in 2010 and remains the only municipality in Mexico
where such marriages are officially allowed.