Mexico: Constitution? What constitution? We won't let gays marry in Baja California

Last Wednesday, Sept. 29, by an overwhelming vote of 18-1, the Chamber of Deputies of the Mexican state of Baja California decided to send a message to the country's Supreme Court by voting for a statewide constitutional amendment banning the recognition of marriages between same-sex couples.

From my friend Rex Wockner's reporting (read his entire report here):

Same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City, and the nation's Supreme Court ruled this year that all 31 Mexican states must recognize gay marriages from the capital city.

As a result, the state legislature's move could set it on a collision course with the federal Supreme Court, although some amendment backers claimed they only want to prevent gay marriages from taking place in Baja.

It's not a done deal.  Again, from Rex:

To be valid, the amendment has to be ratified by the city councils of three of Baja California's five municipalities -- Ensenada, Mexicali, Rosarito Beach, Tecate and Tijuana. Any municipality that fails to report the result of its vote within a month of receiving the amendment will be counted as having approved it. (All towns and areas of Baja California are within one of the five municipalities, which are somewhat similar to U.S. counties.)

In the meantime, my friend and Mexican human rights advocate Gabriel Gutierrez sent me a link to an 11 minute video of the day when the actual vote took place.  In it, you can see that it was a standing room only event packed with LGBT rights advocates and marriage equality rights opponents vying for space.



I won't be translating this one but you have to have heart to the LGBT advocates standing in the room as only one of seventeen of their representatives stood up for them.

At the 8:03 mark in the video, after the vote has been taken, an unidentified man in white reacts in anger to the overwhelming opposition to his rights:

Rapists! We are also citizens and we pay taxes... ridiculous moralists!... None of you want to adopt anyone, children are dying of hunger and we want to help them. And you come here with your pedophile priests leading you. Trash is what you are! Double morality! Your husbands are with the prostitutes and you are just being ridicule here! Where are your marriages? Where? You have children dying of hunger and you just vouch for your priests! But you come here and say that marriages are between a man and a woman. We are also worthy!... We are human beings just like you!

Click here for a 2nd video taken at the meeting.

Keep your eye out for updates...