Same-sex marriage in Veracruz

The Mexican Supreme Court ruled on 12 June 2015 that state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional nationwide. The court's ruling is considered a "jurisprudential thesis" and did not invalidate state laws, meaning that same-sex couples denied the right to marry would still have to seek individual injunctions (amparo) in court. The ruling standardized the procedures for judges and courts throughout Mexico to approve all applications for same-sex marriages and made the approval mandatory. Specifically, the court ruled that bans on same-sex marriage violate Articles 1 and 4 of the Constitution of Mexico. Article 1 of the Constitution states that "any form of discrimination, based on ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disabilities, social status, medical conditions, religion, opinions, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other form, which violates the human dignity or seeks to annul or diminish the rights and freedoms of the people, is prohibited.", and Article 4 relates to matrimonial equality, stating that "man and woman are equal under the law. The law shall protect the organization and development of the family."[lower-alpha 1]

The Constitution of Veracruz does not expressly prohibit same-sex marriages. Article 6 of the Constitution states that "the State will promote the necessary conditions for the full enjoyment of liberty, equality, security and non-discrimination of the people".[1][2][3][4]

Civil union legislation was first proposed in Veracruz in 2014. In March 2014, Deputy Cuauhtémoc Pola Estrada from the Citizens' Movement party introduced a partnership bill to the Congress of Veracruz.[5] The bill was opposed by the governing parties and saw little legislation action. In July 2014, Pola Estrada introduced a proposal to amend article 75 of the Civil Code to legalize same-sex marriage.[6] In September 2014, he confirmed that the bill was still awaiting reviews by legislative committees.[7]

In April 2015, citing disappointment with the stalled bills, the president of the State Human Rights Commission announced his intention to propose a new same-sex marriage bill.[8] In July 2016, Deputy Mónica Robles Barajas from the Ecologist Green Party submitted another measure to legalize same-sex marriage.[9] These bills saw very little legislative progress due to opposition from the governing National Action Party (PAN).[10]

In July 2018, as one of its last actions before leaving office, PAN submitted a proposal to Congress to explicitly ban same-sex marriage in the state Constitution. It failed to pass, with 32 deputies in favor, 10 against and 2 absentions. As 33 votes were needed to amend the Constitution, the measure failed by one vote.[11] The July 2018 elections resulted in the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) winning the majority of legislative seats in Congress and the governorship. MORENA's party platform includes support for LGBT rights and same-sex marriage.

On 28 May 2020, the Congress of Veracruz passed a cohabitation bill by a vote of 35–12. The law grants cohabitating couples, different-sex or same-sex, the same rights, benefits and obligations as married couples.[12][13] The law was published in the official state journal on 10 June,[14] following the signature of Governor Cuitláhuac García Jiménez, and went into effect the following day. The legislation defines cohabitation as follows:

• in Spanish: El concubinato es la unión de hecho entre dos personas, sin que exista un contrato entre ellos, ambos se encuentren libres de matrimonio y que deciden compartir la vida para apoyarse mutuamente.
• (Concubinage is the facto union between two people, without there being a contract between them, both being free from marriage and deciding to share their lives together in order to support each other.)

Political party	Members	Yes	No	Abstain	Absent
National Regeneration Movement	29	26	1	1	1
National Action Party	13	2	11
Institutional Revolutionary Party	3	3
Citizens' Movement	2	2
Party of the Democratic Revolution	1	1
Ecologist Green Party of Mexico	1	1
Social Encounter Party	1			1
Total	50	35	12	2	1

The Mexican Supreme Court ruled on 12 June 2015 that state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional nationwide. The court's ruling is a "jurisprudential thesis" and did not invalidate state laws, meaning that same-sex couples denied the right to marry would still have to seek individual injunctions (amparo) in court. The ruling standardized the procedures for judges and courts throughout Mexico to approve all applications for same-sex marriages and made the approval mandatory.

In February 2014, couple Javier Darío Olivares García and Víctor Manuel Durán Sáenz applied for a marriage license at the civil registry office in Heroica Veracruz. The couple were turned down, and subsequently filed an injunction in court, which was granted by a federal judge on 22 July 2014.[15][16] Despite the approval, the registrar refused to schedule a ceremony for the couple. After presenting their injunction to the registrar in Boca del Río, the marriage was scheduled for 6 December 2014. Their wedding was the first same-sex marriage in the state of Veracruz.[17]

On 29 January 2015, a local LGBT group, Comunidad Jarochos, announced that a lesbian couple had won an injunction and would marry on 4 April 2015.[18] The group also announced that there were 8 pending injunctions in the state.[19] Four additional couples filed injunctions in court on 16 May 2016.[20] On 26 May 2016, three couples (two lesbian couples and one male couple) were granted the right to marry.[21]

A lawsuit challenging article 75 of the Civil Code, which defines marriage as the "union of a man and a woman", was filed on 20 July 2017 with the Fourth District Court.[22][23] On 7 November 2017, Judge José Arquímedes Gregorio Loranca Luna declared the state's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.[24] Guillermo Izacur Maldonado, president of Comunidad Jarochos, argued that the ruling was a "general injunction" that covers every same-sex couple in the state and that same-sex marriage should thus effectively be legal in the state as a result of this court decision.[25] However, state officials announced they would continue to enforce the state's same-sex marriage ban despite the court ruling.[26]

18 same-sex marriages had been performed in Veracruz by August 2017.[27] By early 2019, that number had increased to 69,[28] and to 150 by July 2020.[29] All these couples married using the amparo process.

On 28 May 2020, the Congress of Veracruz amended state family law to recognize same-sex cohabitation but at the same time it did not repeal the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Shortly following the law's publication in the official state journal on 10 June, the National Human Rights Commission filed an action of unconstitutionality (acción de inconstitucionalidad; docketed 144/2020) against the state of Veracruz, contesting the constitutionality of the new cohabitation law and various articles of the Civil Code that ban same-sex marriage.[30] This lawsuit seeks to fully legalize same-sex marriage in the state, similarly to what happened in numerous other states, including Jalisco (case 28/2015), Chiapas (case 32/2016), Puebla (case 29/2016), Aguascalientes (case 40/2018) and Nuevo León (case 29/2018). A ruling in the case is expected sometime in 2022.