Mexico City allows same-sex marriage, adoption by gay couples

Mar 4, 2010, 20:14 GMT

Mexico City - Legislation allowing same-sex marriages and adoptions by gay couples went into force in Mexico City Thursday.

The traditional term, 'I declare you man and wife,' was replaced with a gender-neutral alternative.

'I declare you united in a legitimate marriage with all the rights and prerogatives that the law allows,' was now to be used by officiating judges.

The legal reforms were approved by the city's Legislature in December 2009, despite the opposition of Roman Catholics and Evangelical Christians. They are only in force in Mexico City.

'It is a historic moment of social transformation, which gives us arguments to recognize diversity, make progress on the road of non- discrimination and build a fairer society,' a group of gay couples who plan to get married said in a statement.

To prepare for their new duties, the city's 70 civic judges attended sensitization workshops last week at the Mexican Sexology Institute, to prevent discrimination when dealing with gay couples.

In order to get married in the Mexican capital, gay couples have to prove that they have lived there for at least six months. Once the paperwork is done, it takes about two weeks for the ceremony to be organized.

From now on, there will be three kinds of forms, specifying 'him- her,' 'her-her' or 'him-him,' which those getting married are required to sign.

The first same-sex wedding ever held in Latin America took place in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, in 2009, after the couple could not get married in Argentine capital Buenos Aires because a judge denied them the necessary permit. On Wednesday, two men got married in Buenos Aires, in the city's first-ever gay wedding.