Mexico City Hopes to Attract Gay Marrieds

Not only has Mexico City extended marriage equality to the city's gay and lesbian families, but now the metropolis seeks to become a honeymoon destination for same-sex couples married in other counties.

As part of a promotion deigned to draw married gay tourists and their money to the Mexican capital, the city is treating Argentina's first legally married same-sex couple to an all expenses paid sojourn, reported CNN.com on Aug. 31.

"We hope that many same-sex couples who get married around the world spend their honeymoons here," said Mexico City tourism secretary Alejandro Rojas, going on to note, "We are a very tolerant, liberal, avant-garde city."

Marriage equality went into effect in Mexico City on March 4. Before then, same-sex couples were allowed civil unions, though that level of recognition did not allow gay couples to adopt or to include one another on insurance programs. Marriage equality has made those things, and more, possible for same-sex families. Since it came into effect, the law has successfully been defended from challengers who sought to have it repealed on constitutional grounds, arguing without result that extending family parity to same-sex couples was an attack on heterosexual families. A separate finding by the court reaffirmed the right of same-sex couples to adopt.

The Catholic Church has also been vehemently opposed to legal parity for gay and lesbian families in Mexico, as elsewhere. The upholding of the law by the Mexican Supreme Court earlier this month prompted one Catholic official, Archbishop of Guadalajara Cardinal Juan Sandoval I�iguez, to accuse government officials of bribing the justices.

The word in Spanish that the cardinal employed while making the accusation is a vernacular term that refers to feeding farm animals, an Aug. 18 Associated Press story noted. I�iguez made his claim on Aug. 16.

The Supreme Court declared the cardinal's statement to be untrue, and the mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, demanded an apology and undertook legal action. But the Catholic Church has rallied around the cardinal, who has shown no sign of retracting the statement or apologizing. An Aug. 19 article at anti-gay religious web site LifeSiteNews said that the church was ready to respond to any "calumny" against I�iguez with evidence that the cardinal allegedly possesses.

"Mr. Ebrard has the liberty to proceed as he wishes," Archdiocese of Guadalajara spokesperson Guti�rrez Monta�o told the media, adding that I�iguez "also has the right to exercise what he thinks he should do if any calumny is raised against him."

In an Aug. 17 release, the country's bishops expressed support for the cardinal and denounced the Supreme Court's verdict. "The bishops of Mexico, sensitive to the majority opinion not only in Mexico City, but in the whole country, express, in the exercise of the liberty of expression guaranteed by our democratic political regime, our total disagreement with the verdict issued by the [Mexican Supreme Court]," the bishops stated.

The statement went on to say, "[W]e believe that equalizing these unions with the name of matrimony is a lack of respect, both for the very essence of marriage between a man and a woman, expressed in the Constitution of the country in its article 4, as well as the customs of the culture itself that has reigned over us for centuries."

The church also declared that the Supreme Court's decision to uphold marriage equality for gay and lesbian families was "worse than narcotrafficking." Hugo Valdemar, a spokesperson for the Mexican archdiocese said that Ebrard had "created laws that are destructive to the family, that cause worse damage than narcotrafficking." Added Valdemar, Hugo Marcelo Ebrard and his party, the PRD, have endeavored to destroy us."

The LifeSiteNews article noted that under Constitutional law, Mexico's clerics are not permitted to engage in political action. The law is seldom invoked, but LifeSiteNews warned that it was a "potential weapon" to which the government might resort.

Ebrard followed through with a civil suit, filed on Aug. 18, noted U.S. GLBT news site Box Turtle Bulletin that same day.

As the church and various politicians across Mexico continue to work to bar gay and lesbian families from sharing in marriage, the prospect of economic rewards keeps Mexico City on track to equality. After 27 years together, Argentinean couple Jose Luis Navarro and Miguel Angel Calefato officially became the first same-sex family from that country to wed on July 30; Mexico City officials hope that the trip they are providing to the men will inspire others from around the world to follow. To help prepare the way, the CNN.com article said, city officials are providing training to hotel and restaurant staffs and planning publications that will point out the city's gay-friendly attractions. Moreover, the city anticipates creating a tourism office that will focus on gay tourists.

It's an idea that the city's businesses are on board with: the article noted that Mexico City entrepreneurs contributed enough for the Argentinean couple's promotional visit that the city didn't have to pay anything for the tab.