President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico announced today that he wants to bring marriage equality to his country. The Mexican president announced that he has signed several initiatives that would amend the country’s constitution and its federal civil code to allow same-sex couples to marry.
“Today, on the International Day Against Homophobia, I met the representatives of LGBT groups. I listened to their ideas and proposals,” Peña Nieto posted in Spanish on Twitter. “I reiterated the Mexican government’s commitment to combat all forms of discrimination, including those motivated by sexual preference.”
He then added, “These reform initiatives takes up the the Supreme Court’s initiative of non-discrimination … for an inclusive Mexico that recognizes diversity – one of its greatest strengths.”
The president changed his profile picture on his Twitter account to a rainbow-colored picture of his after he made the announcement. Peña Nieto’s initiatives would modify article No. 4 of Mexico’s constitution to reflect the Supreme Court opinion and “to recognize as a human right that people can enter into marriage without any kind of discrimination.”
Currently gay marriage is only legal in the country’s capital, Mexico City, and eight other states. The country has 31 states in all. Same-sex couples can marry in Mexico’s other 23 states, but it’s complicated, slow and expensive. A couple is required to wait a month or more and the equivalent of around $1,000 U.S. to pay a lawyer to help them. In June 2015, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.
Elsewhere in Latin America, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and, Colombia have legalized same-sex marriage.
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