Same-sex marriage in Baja California Sur

On 9 April 2010, the organization La Comunidad Sudcaliforniana en Diversidad Sexual proposed reforms to the Civil Code of Baja California Sur to allow for same-sex marriage and adoption.[1] No action was taken by the state Congress over the following years, as local politicians deflected the issue saying that the public must be consulted.[2][3] Even after several court decisions in favor of same-sex couples, members of the local Congress said that the issue was not on the legislative agenda.[4]

On 25 March 2015, the Chief Justice of the Baja California Sur Supreme Court, Daniel Gallo Rodríguez, handed Congress a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.[5] On 15 April, a member of Congress told the media that analysis of the proposal would begin in May.[6] On 17 May 2016, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, a congresswoman from the National Action Party (PAN) announced that the proposal would be voted on by the state Congress before 30 June.[7] No vote took place however, and the proposal was put in the "legislative freezer" (congelador legislativo).

The July 2018 elections resulted in the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and other pro-same-sex marriage parties winning a majority of legislative seats in Congress. In September 2018, several deputies promised to push the newly-elected Congress to pass a same-sex marriage bill.[8] In May 2019, Deputy Rosalba Rodríguez López (MORENA) introduced a same-sex marriage bill to Congress.[9] On 27 June 2019, the state Congress approved the legislation in a 14–5 vote with one abstention.[10][11] It was signed by Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis the same day and published in the official journal on 28 June. The law took effect the following day.[12][13][14]

Article 150 of the Civil Code of Baja California Sur now reads as follows:

• in Spanish: El matrimonio es la unión libre de dos personas para realizar la comunidad de vida, en donde ambos se procuran respeto, igualdad y ayuda mutua, mediante la cohabitación doméstica y sexual.
• (Marriage is the free union of two people to establish a life together, where both partners seek respect, equality and mutual assistance, by means of domestic and sexual cohabitation.)

Political party[15]	Members	Yes	No	Abstain	Absent
National Regeneration Movement	8	8
Independents	7	3	3		1
Institutional Revolutionary Party	1	1
National Action Party	1		1
Labor Party	1	1
Party of the Democratic Revolution	1		1
Humanist Party	1	1
Partido de Renovación Sudcaliforniana	1			1
Total	21	14	5	1	1

A decision of the Mexican Supreme Court on 12 June 2015 resulted in a ruling which found that state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional nationwide. The court's ruling is considered a "jurisprudential thesis" and did not invalidate any state laws, meaning same-sex couples denied the right to wed 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.

The first injunction in favor of same-sex marriage in Baja California Sur was granted on 21 October 2014.[16][17] The case involved 9 same-sex couples, 14 women and 4 men, who had filed an injunction in court in August 2014 contesting the constitutionality of articles 150 and 330 of the state Civil Code. Article 150 defined marriage as the "legitimate union of a man and a woman" and whose goal was "perpetuating the species" and article 330 similarly defined concubinage as between "a man and a woman".[18] On 21 October, a district judge declared the two articles unconstitutional and gave the 9 couples in question the right to marry. An appeal was filed, and ultimately resulted in a ruling in favor of the couples in March 2016 by the Supreme Court.[19] This court decision only allowed the 9 couples involved in the case to marry. The couples were represented by LGBT activist and lawyer Nolzuly Almodóvar García.

In February 2015, 18 couples, 32 women and 4 men, filed an injunction in court seeking the right to marry. Lawyer Almodóvar García represented the couples. The injunction was granted by the First District Court in April 2015.[20]

Lawyer Almodóvar García has represented several same-sex couples in these injunctions. In November 2014, he helped 10 couples from La Paz to file an injunction for same-sex marriage,[21] and did so again in April 2015 for 6 couples.[20] By 20 August 2016, a total of 180 gay people had been granted the right to marry by the courts.[22]