Mexico City Mayor Miguel Mancera Hosts Mass Wedding Of 26 Gay Couples

Via Blabbeando.

Volcano Erupts Near Mexico City

Whoa. Note: There's no audio on this clip.

Enter The Earthscraper

Via Humans Invent, an interesting proposal.

Burrowing down 35 stories beneath the heart of Mexico City, the Earthscraper defies everything the skyscraper stands for. It’s an ambitious rebuttal to architectural obsession with high-rise, so-called space efficient living. Shaped like an inverted pyramid, the Earthscraper will burrow downwards 775,000 square metres, preserving the existing city square above. By building below the city, the landscape above ground is left looking relatively unchanged. Concerts, open-air exhibitions and military parades regularly take place on the historic landmark above the Earthscraper, and it’s important to Mexico’s rich history that they continue.

Lease With Option To Buy

Mexico City is considering offering temporary marriage licenses. If things aren't working out after the agreed upon trial period, you just walk away.

Leftists in the city's assembly — who have already riled conservatives by legalizing gay marriage — proposed a reform to the civil code this week that would allow couples to decide on the length of their commitment, opting out of a lifetime. The minimum marriage contract would be for two years and could be renewed if the couple stays happy. The contracts would include provisions on how children and property would be handled if the couple splits. "The proposal is, when the two-year period is up, if the relationship is not stable or harmonious, the contract simply ends," said Leonel Luna, the Mexico City assemblyman who co-authored the bill.

Even though the plan would reduce the number of divorces, the Catholic Church is furious at the mere thought of not being shackled to another person for eternity. Of course!

MEXICO CITY: Woman Becomes Surrogate Birth Mother To Gay Son's Baby

After an in vitro fertilization procedure, a 50 year-old woman in Mexico City has become the surrogate mother to her 31 year-old gay son's baby using a donated egg and her son's sperm.

The baby, called Dario, was born by caesarean section on November 1 and the mother and child were sent home after a 48-hour period of observation. Doctors said there were no complications. ‘I don't feel like a mother nor like a grandmother,’ the woman told Reforma, a Mexico City newspaper. ‘When they say “mother” to me I feel strange, and when they say “grandmother” also,’ she said. ‘I mean, he was my first grandson, and I don't feel that way because at the same time he is my fourth son.’ The family has fully documented the circumstances of the birth so that the child will one day be able to learn of his origins.

The birth has already gotten widespread coverage on anti-gay and Christianist blogs, where it is being ridiculed as yet another example of "bizarre gay parenting." NOM tweeted the story this morning and the Freepers are having a field day.

Mexico City Invites Gay Honeymooners

Mexico City has launched a new tourism office to lure gay honeymooners from around the world.

"We hope that many same-sex couples who get married around the world spend their honeymoons here," says Alejandro Rojas, the city's tourism secretary. In July, the city opened an office aimed at catering to gay tourists that officials describe as the first of its kind in Latin America. "We are a very tolerant, liberal, avant-garde city," Rojas says. Officials inaugurated the new office by cutting a rainbow-colored ribbon. Rojas said the office's goal is to make Mexico City the No. 1 gay-friendly destination in Latin America. "Mexico has a tradition of being a rather macho culture... This is a sign of a very important social change," says Argentinean architect Jose Luis David Navarro, who will be spending part of his honeymoon in Mexico City this week.

The first gay couple to wed in Argentina is honeymooning in Mexico City this week on an all-expenses paid trip courtesy of the new tourism office.

MEXICO: Groups Clash Over Marriage

The Catholic Church is fostering protests against same-sex marriage and adoption in Mexico with Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez saying publicly, "Would you want to be adopted by a pair of faggots or lesbians?" Things got very heated yesterday in Guadalajara.

Gay rights activists and a group of Roman Catholics in Mexico have yelled insults at each other during dueling demonstrations over same-sex marriage. Some 200 gay rights activists waved rainbow flags and held signs reading "Thank God I'm gay" at a plaza next to the cathedral in Guadalajara on Sunday. A similar number of protesters opposed to gay marriage prayed at the cathedral's doors. One of them ripped up a sign held by a gay rights activist, prompting screaming by both sides. It was the second confrontation in two days in Guadalajara, where Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez stirred controversy by suggesting Mexico's Supreme Court was bribed to uphold a Mexico City law allowing adoptions by homosexual couples.

Here's a short clip of yesterday's rally.

Mexico City Mayor Sues Catholic Cardinal Over Gay Marriage Accusations

Mexico City's Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has filed a defamation lawsuit against Cardinal Juan Sandoval after the cardinal told the press that Ebrard had bribed Mexico's Supreme Court justices to legalize same-sex marriage and gay adoption.

Sandoval made the allegations on Sunday during an event in Aguascalientes state. He also used a slur against gays while decrying the recent high court decisions that were called victories for the gay-rights community, as L.A. Times correspondent Tracy Wilkinson analyzes in this story. Church authorities were not backing down. Sandoval said Monday he would not retract his comments, and the archdiocese in Guadalajara later said it had proof of the allegations against the Supreme Court justices. Statements in support were issued from the archdiocese in Mexico City, while the Bishops' Conference of Mexico also said it supports Sandoval. In the secular institutional corner, the Supreme Court censured Sandoval's statements unanimously, and Ebrard issued a stark warning to the highest-ranking prelate of Mexico's second-largest city: "We live in a secular state, and here, whether we like it or not, the law rules the land," Ebrard said, according to La Jornada. "The cardinal must submit to the law of the land, like all other citizens of this country."

Earlier this month Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriages performed in the nation's capital must be recognized in all 31 states. Last week the same court upheld the constitutionality of allowing gay adoption in Mexico City.

MEXICO: Supreme Court Rules That All States Must Recognize Same-Sex Marriage

The wins keep pouring in! Late this afternoon Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that all 31 states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in the nation's capital, which at the moment is the only place they are legal. Mexico City is a separate federal entity, much like Washington, DC.

In a 9-2 decision, the tribunal cited an article of the constitution requiring states to recognize legal contracts drawn up elsewhere. It did not specify what degree of recognition must be granted to same-sex couples. Mexico City's same-sex marriage law, enacted in March, extends to wedded gay couples the right to adopt children, to jointly apply for bank loans, to inherit wealth and to be covered by their spouses' insurance policies. Some of those may end up applying only in the capital. The Supreme Court ruled last week that same-sex weddings are constitutional — though it is holding separate discussions this week on the adoption clause. One of the justices, Sergio Aguirre, argued against adoptions by same-sex couples Tuesday, saying children might suffer discrimination as a result.

The ruling does not force any of the states to allow gay marriage, but surely helps clears the way for the more liberal parts of the country to move forward.

Is Mexico Next For Marriage Equality?

Today Mexico's Supreme Court ruled 8-2 that the legalization of same-sex marriage in the nation's capital did not violate the Mexican constitution. Mexico City legalized gay marriage in March, but the ruling was challenged with the backing of the Catholic Church. Today's decision not only squashed that challenge, it further stipulated that gay couples were free to adopt. How long before we see the expansion of marriage equality to all of Mexico?

Mexico City Offers Free Honeymoon To First Gay-Married Argentine Couple

Mexico City's tourism agency is offering a free honeymoon to the first gay couple to wed under Argentina's just-passed marriage equality law.

The offer was "in recognition of tolerance, but also to promote gay friendly tourism in Mexico City," said Alejandro Rojas, according to a statement. Argentina on Thursday became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, following a landmark Senate vote which stirred controversy in the majority Roman Catholic nation. Authorities in the Mexican capital, which legalized gay marriage last year, offered air tickets for the first couple to benefit from the Argentine law, and was seeking sponsorship from hotels and restaurants in Mexico City and the beach resort of Cancun, Rojas said. Around 15 percent of world tourism -- 150 million tourists per year -- is gay friendly, while gay tourists are discerning, respectful and spend 47 percent more than heterosexual tourists, Rojas added.

Mexico City legalized same-sex marriage in December.

88 Gay Couples Married In Mexico City

So far 88 gay couples have wed under Mexico City's new marriage equality law.

A statement from Mexico City’s government says 50 of the couples were men and 38 women. It said Monday that 37 more gay couples are scheduled to be married between April and June. Mexico City’s legislature passed the first law in Latin America explicitly giving gay marriages in the federal district the same status as heterosexual ones in December. The legislation also allows same-sex couples to adopt children. The law took effect March 4 over criticism by the Roman Catholic Church and a campaign against the measure by President Felipe Calderon’s conservative National Action Party.

Mexico City's First Gay Marriages

Four gay couples legally married at Mexico City's Municipal Palace yesterday in the first such event in their nation's history. ¡Felicidades!

The mayor was there. So were the protesters. Judith Vazquez wore an ivory wedding dress. So did her bride. Vazquez and Lol Kin Castaneda on Thursday became the first gay couple to marry in Mexico under a new law that allows same-sex couples to wed and to adopt children. The law was passed by the Mexico City legislature in December and applies only to the capital. It is the most far-reaching gay-rights law in Latin America and one of several measures that have put the city and its leaders at odds with the more conservative country. "This is a historic day," presiding judge Hegel Cortes said shortly after pronouncing Vazquez and Castaneda "legitimately united in matrimony." Three other same-sex couples also tied the knot.

Mexico's federal government is challenging the law.

Gay Marriage Comes To Mexico City

Today is the first day that gay couples in Mexico City can register to marry.

The law, which was passed by the city's local assembly in December, gives gay people full marital rights, including the right to adopt. Several gay couples are now expected to register to get married as early as next week. Mexico City is one of the first capitals in Latin America to fully recognise gay marriages. Judith Vazquez and partner Lol-kin Castaneda hope to become one of the first couples to marry under the new law. "It's the end of our fight and the beginning of life in freedom in Mexico City," Ms Vazquez told the BBC. "This is a great, historic moment for the whole of society in Mexico City," added Ms Castaneda. With this law - and previous legalisation on abortion and some form of euthanasia - the Mexican capital has become a liberal and progressive island in what remains a mostly conservative nation, says the BBC's Julian Miglierini in Mexico City.

It's been a banner week for justice and equality in the capital cities of our hemisphere. Today, Mexico City. Yesterday, Washington DC. And also yesterday, Buenos Aires saw its second legal gay marriage.

Federal Gov't Challenges Mexico City's New Same-Sex Marriage Law

Mexico's federal government has filed a challenge to Mexico City's marriage equality law, saying it is dangerous to children. Or something.

The federal Attorney General's Office has challenged the law on the basis that it violates the constitution. The office has asked Mexico's Supreme Court to void the law because it “strays from the responsibility of the government to place a priority on safeguarding the interests of children.” Federal lawyers also argue that the city's civil union law grants gay couples virtually the same rights as marriage, except those related to children. City officials, however, said the action would not interfere with the start of the law, scheduled to take effect on March 4. In an interview with the Excelsior, Leticia Bonifaz, the city's legal adviser, said she was “totally confident that this is an issue of fundamental rights ...” The Roman Catholic Church and the conservative PAN party have widely criticized the law. Mexico's Roman Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Noberto Rivera Carrera, has called the law “immoral” and “reprehensible.” PAN leaders have mounted a campaign to overturn the law.

VIDEO: Mexico City Approves Marriage

(Via - Towleroad)

Mexico City Approves Gay Marriage

Today lawmakers in Mexico City legalized same-sex marriage! Mexico City is now the largest city in the world to approve marriage equality and is the second national capital to do so in less than a week, following Washington DC.

Mexico City lawmakers on Monday made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children. The bill passed the capital's local assembly 39-20 to the cheers of supporters who yelled: "Yes, we could! Yes, we could!" Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of the Democratic Revolution Party was widely expected to sign the measure into law. Mexico City's left-led assembly has made several decisions unpopular elsewhere in this deeply Roman Catholic country, including legalizing abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. That decision sparked a backlash, with the majority of Mexico's other 32 states enacting legislation declaring life begins at conception.

The conservative Nation Action Party of President Felipe Calderon has vowed to challenge the gay marriage law in the courts. However, homosexuality is increasingly accepted in Mexico, with gay couples openly holding hands in parts of the capital and the annual gay pride parade drawing tens of thousands. The bill calls for changing the definition of marriage in the city's civil code. Marriage is currently defined as the union of a man and a woman. The new definition will be "the free uniting of two people." The change would allow same-sex couples to adopt children, apply for bank loans together, inherit wealth and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse, rights they were denied under civil unions allowed in the city.

Mexico City approved civil unions in 2007. In November a court in Buenos Aires approved the marriage of a same-sex couple, but that ruling was stayed by another judge and remains in limbo. Some Mexican and Brazilian states have legalized civil unions for gay couples, but Uruguay is the only Latin American nation with civil unions nationwide. Mexico City is an amazing first!