A congressional committee has rejected
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's proposal to legalize same-sex
marriage nationwide.
Pena Nieto in May proposed a
constitutional amendment which would give gay couples the right to
marry.
Congress' 28-member Commission on
Constitutional Matters in the lower house (the Chamber of Deputies)
rejected the president's proposal with a 19-8 vote, with one
abstention, the
AP reported.
In a summary by the Chamber of
Deputies, commission chairman Edgar Castillo Martinez is quoted as
saying that the issue is “totally and definitively concluded.”
Pena Nieto submitted the proposal
nearly a year after the nation's highest court ruled that state
marriage laws that exclude gay couples are unconstitutional. While
lower courts must abide by the ruling, few challenges to state bans
have been filed. In 2009, Mexico City, with its nearly 9 million
residents, became the first municipality in Mexico to legalize such
unions. Despite last year's ruling, gay couples can marry in only a
handful of states.
The Roman Catholic group National Front
for the Family in September organized tens of thousands of people to
protest the president's proposal. Supporters also held
demonstrations.
(Related: Boy
confronts thousands of protesters marching against gay marriage in
Mexico.)