Gay marriage in Mexico City is closer
to reality after its mayor said he would not veto a gay marriage
bill, the Informador reported.
Opponents of the measure overwhelmingly
approved by lawmakers on December 21 had urged Mayor Marcelo Ebrard
of the progressive Democratic Revolution Party (Partido de la
Revolution Democratica, PRD) to veto the bill.
But publication in Mexico City's
official register Tuesday signaled Ebrard was not about to block the
law. The law, which will also allow gay couples to adopt, will take
effect in March.
“Mexico City will become a center,
where [gay] people from all over the world will be able to come and
have their wedding, and then spend their honeymoon here,” said
Alejandro Rojas, the city tourism secretary.
While Mexico City will become the first
city to allow gay couples to wed, it will not host the first gay
marriage in Latin America. That title goes to Argentina, where two
men wed earlier in the week after they received a special decree from
a provincial governor.
Opponents of the measure have vowed to
repeal the law. Members of the conservative PAN party say they'll
appeal to Mexico's Supreme Court.
“We will continue a fierce and
persistent battle, and if necessary we will do it before the Supreme
Court to safeguard the institutions and values of society such as
family and marriage, which is the union between a man and a woman,”
PAN lawmakers said Tuesday in a statement.
Mexico's Roman Catholic archbishop,
Cardinal Noberto Rivera Carrera, has called the bill “immoral”
and “reprehensible.”