MEXICO: Another State Legalizes Marriage

Same-sex marriage was legalized yesterday in the Mexican border state of Coahuila. Rex Wockner reports:

For the first time, a Mexican state legislature has voted to legalize same-sex marriage. The Sept. 1 vote by the Congress of the state of Coahuila was 19-1. The new law, which alters more than 40 parts of the state's Civil Code, takes effect in one week. According to reports, the law says, "Marriage is the free union with full consent of two people, which has as its objective to realize community life where both [people] seek respect, equality and mutual aid, and make in a free, responsible, voluntary and informed way reproductive decisions that fit their life project, including the possibility of procreation or adoption."

Coahuila is the 15th most populous of Mexico's 31 states with about three million residents. Same-sex marriage is also legal in the state of Quintana Roo and in Mexico City.