ABOVE: Tijuana is a Mexican border city that is in the country’s Baja California state. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Same-sex couples in Mexico’s Baja California state can now legally marry without a court order.
The Baja California Congress in June removed an amendment from the state constitution that banned marriage for same-sex couples. Three of the state’s five municipalities — Tijuana, Mexicali and Tecate — subsequently approved the amendment.
The state’s Official Journal published the amendment Aug. 8.
“We are able to finally say that marriage equality in Baja California is the law,” tweeted Maky Pollorena, a Mexicali-based activist who works with Centro Comunitario de Bienestar (Cobina), a local LGBTQ advocacy group, on Aug. 9. “This paper is the result of many years of struggle and tears. (It is) one step of many that we have taken to make sure that our state and country is diverse and inclusive. The historical debt does not end here.”
Y por fin ahora si podemos decir que el #MatrimonioIgualitario en #BajaCalifornia es ley. Tantos años de lucha y lágrimas resumidas en esta hoja. Un paso de muchos que tenemos que dar para que nuestro Estado y país sea diverso e inclusivo. La deuda histórica no termina aquí. pic.twitter.com/zXda3L9F3b
— Maky Pollorena (@Its_Maky_Bitch) August 9, 2021
Baja California borders California and a small portion of southwestern Arizona.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Mexico City since 2010.
The Mexican Supreme Court in 2015 ruled laws that ban same-sex marriage are “discriminatory.” Chihuahua, Jalisco, Oaxaca and Quintana Roo are among the Mexican states with marriage equality, but same-sex couples are still unable to legally tie the knot throughout the entire country.
