Mexico City Gay Marriage Law

In a recent New York Times article, Mexico City Mayor Vows to Defend Gay Marriage Law, the validity and enforcement of a same sex marriage law is addressed. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard (this name should sound familiar, he was one of the presidential hopefuls mentioned in my previous blog post) says "he will defend the capital's gay-marriage law and insists the ordinance will take effect in March".

Mexican federal prosecutors feel differently however--the federal Attorney General's Office has filed an appeal, bringing the legitimacy of the law to the scrutiny of the Supreme Court. The prosecutors argue that the law "violates constitutional provisions on the family and the protection of children".

This controversial law is valid of mention in our Comparative Government class in many ways. Firstly, Mexico's heavy Catholic influence and typical Conservative view towards gay-marriage is in contrast to this new progressive law that is the first of its kind for all of Latin America. It is surprising that this law was enacted amidst a civic culture that does not typically advocate same sex marriage. However, equally pertinent, the article addresses an appeal to the Supreme Court to judge upon the constitutionality of a law--sounds an awful lot like judicial review. As well, the Judicial courts of Mexico are fairly insulated from the Executive, so the law will not be negated because of federal opposition coupled with a federal control of the Judiciary. When looking at the standpoint of the Judicial System of Mexico, Mexico is looking very much like a liberal democracy.