Same-sex marriage in Jalisco

Civil unions

In April 2013, deputies of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), Citizens' Movement (MC) and an independent deputy presented the Free Coexistence Act (Ley de Libre Convivencia).^[4] The Act established that same-sex civil unions can be performed in the state, as long as they are not considered marriages. It did not legalize adoption and mandated that civil unions be performed with a civil law notary.^[4][5] On 31 October 2013, the Congress of Jalisco approved the Act in a 20-15 vote,^[2] one abstained and three were absent.^[5] The law took effect on 1 January 2014.^[3]

Political party	Members	Yes	No	Abstain	Absent
Institutional Revolutionary Party	17	15	1		1
National Action Party	13		11		2
Party of the Democratic Revolution	2	2
Ecologist Green Party of Mexico	1	1
Citizens' Movement	5	1	3	1
Independent	1	1
Total	39	20	15	1	3

On 13 September 2018, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation struck down the law on procedural grounds.^[6][7]

Marriage

A female same-sex couple was able to become the first same-sex couple to marry in the state on 14 December 2013.^[8] In December 2013, 12 couples of the same sex—eight women and four men—filed an injunction after each of their requests for a marriage license was denied. The injunction was granted on 12 June 2014 and became the 2nd ruling invalidating the Civil Code of Jalisco.^[9] In January 2014, a male couple went to the Civil Registry in Guadalajara and were denied a marriage license based on Article 258 of the State Civil Code, which limited marriage to one man and one woman. They filed for an injunction in the Fourth District Court.^[10] On 8 January 2015, because Guadalajara municipal officials challenged the injunction, the case was elevated to the Supreme Court of the Nation.^[11]

State recognition of same-sex relationships in Mexico.

  Marriage at the state level

  Marriage by amparo only

  Civil unions; marriage by amparo only

The couple received an injunction, but still contested the constitutionality of Jalisco's Civil Code.^[12] The SCJN announced on 15 April 2015 that it would review article 258 of the State Civil Code which described marriage as "An institution of public character and social interest, through which a man and a woman decide to share a state of life in search of personal fulfillment and the foundation of a family".^[13] On 24 March 2014, ten same-sex couples, went to the registry office in Guadalajara,^[14][15] and were each denied their request for a marriage license. With the support of CLADEM, they filed for an injunction.^[16]

In June 2014, PRI congressman Héctor Pizano Ramos introduced legislation to amend the Civil Code of Jalisco and legalize same-sex marriage.^[17] After a national ruling from the SCJN labeling all bans and heterosexual definitions of marriage unconstitutional on 12 June 2015, it was announced on 17 June 2015 that Jalisco would begin work on amending the Civil Code after the ruling's official publication in the judicial gazette.^[18] On 26 November 2015, the First Chamber of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice declared an article of the Jalisco Civil Code, which prevented same-sex marriage, unconstitutional.^[19] The issue was then sent to the plenary who held the first hearing on 21 January 2016.

On 26 January 2016, the full Mexican Supreme Court voted unanimously to declare the Civil Code unconstitutional for limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. Since at least 8 of the 11 Justices ruled in favor of same-sex couples, the articles mentioned in Jalisco's Civil Code would be struck once the ruling was published in the judicial gazette and a new gender-neutral text from the Court would override the existing text upon publication in Jalisco's state gazette and the federal gazette. Following all three publications, civil registries in the state would be ordered to marry all couples.^[20][21] In the meantime, the mayors of Guadalajara, Tlaquepaque and Zapopan ordered the civil registries in their jurisdictions to start marrying same-sex couples.^[22]

In March 2016, Puerto Vallarta's Civil Registry told the media that the Jalisco State Civil Registry Directory changed all marriage licenses to gender-neutral on 22 March 2016 and that couples can already begin receiving them.^[23] The Mayor of Puerto Vallarta officiated the weddings of two same-sex couples on 20 April 2016, which were the first same-sex marriages recorded in the resort city.^[24]

On 21 April 2016, the Supreme Court ruling was printed in the Official Diary of the Mexican Federation.^[25] On 23 April, the ruling was published in Jalisco's state gazette.^[26]

On 12 May 2016, the Congress of Jalisco complied with the Mexican Supreme Court ruling and instructed all of the state's municipalities to perform same-sex marriages.^[27] According to a local LGBT group, four municipalities are known to have refused to marry at least one same-sex couple following the Supreme Court ruling in January 2016 (La Barca, Ocotlán, Santa María de los Ángeles and Tepatitlán).^[28] LGBT activists also asked Congress to legalize adoption for same-sex couples, as did members of the Party of the Democratic Revolution. Rocio Corona Nakamura, a member of Congress for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, suggested that adoptions be discussed at another time. The municipality of Guadalajara had already received five applications of adoption by same-sex couples.^[28]

On 29 June 2017, Deputy Claudia Delgadillo González introduced to Congress a bill modifying articles 258, 260 and 267 of the Civil Code, removing the heterosexual definition of marriage and inserting a gender-neutral definition.^[29]