Same-sex marriage in Chihuahua

On 30 April 2013, a male same-sex couple asked the Civil Registry of Chihuahua to marry. The Civil Registry rejected their application because the State Civil Code defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. On 7 May 2013, the couple appealed the decision and on 19 August Judge José Juan Múzquiz Gómez of the Tenth District Court of Chihuahua recognized that they had the right to marry. The Civil Registry had up to 3 September to appeal the decision.[3] It did not appeal the decision and allowed the deadline to pass, thereby allowing the couple to marry.[4] On 31 October 2013, a second couple in the state (and the first lesbian couple) was awarded an injunction by the Seventh District Court.[5] They married in the municipality of Juárez in February 2014.[6] On 22 November 2013, Judge Ignacio Cuenca Zamora, from the Eighth District Court, granted the third injunction in the state to a lesbian couple.[7] In December 2013, a fourth couple was granted an injunction. They were the first male couple to marry in Juárez and solemnized their marriage on 13 February 2014.[8] In February 2014, a fifth individual injunction to marry in Chihuahua was granted to Hiram Gonzalez, president of the Centro Humanístico de Estudios Relacionados con la Orientación Sexual (CHEROS).[9]

On 19 March 2014, seven lesbian couples each applied for a marriage license and were rejected. They subsequently applied for an injunction.[10] On 30 June 2014, twenty-six additional couples filed a collective amparo.[11] In July 2014, a same-sex couple was granted the right to marry via injunction, but the judge gave no instructions for reform to the Congress, Civil Registry or the Governor. Unsatisfied with the scope of the judgment, an appeal was launched on 16 July 2014. On 17 October 2014, the case was elevated to the Supreme Court (SCJN).[12][13] In mid-August 2014, a sixth same-sex marriage was held in Chihuahua,[14] and on 20 August 2014, another same-sex marriage occurred in the state.[15] By July 2014, 33 amparos had been filed in the state, 22 in Chihuahua City and 11 in Ciudad Juárez, and nine had been approved.[16] On 13 December 2014, a mass wedding for four lesbian couples who had obtained injunctions was held in Ciudad Juárez,[17] which brought the total of same-sex weddings in the state to 14 for 2014.[18] In February 2015, it was announced that 25 amparos had been successful in the state, but no legislative action had resolved the unconstitutional articles of the Civil Code.[19]

In late December 2015, two same-sex couples were granted injunctions to marry. On 1 June 2016, the First Chamber of the Mexican Supreme Court ruled discriminatory articles 134 and 135 of Chihuahua's Civil Code, thereby granting an amparo to two women who sought to marry.[20][21] These cases would indicate that some municipalities in the state were not following Governor César Duarte Jáquez's decree (see below).

In February 2017, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that Chihuahua's Civil Code is unconstitutional because it has yet to be modified to reflect the legalization of same-sex marriage (see "México Igualitario Project" for more details). The Supreme Court ordered the state Congress to change its Civil Code within 90 days.[22][23] Following the ruling, several conservative lawmakers said they would defy the court ruling. A PAN deputy erroneously claimed that the Supreme Court cannot force the state to change its Civil Code,[24] and the Social Encounter Party announced they would sue the state for allowing same-sex couples to marry.[25] However, Governor Javier Corral Jurado called for same-sex marriage to be discussed in Congress.[26] In late March, the Civil Registry of Chihuahua made necessary modifications to marriage certificates, changing the words "groom's name" and "bride's name" with "names of the contracting parties", thus also applying to same-sex couples. Changes to birth certificates were also made.[27] These changes caused an uproar within conservative groups.[28] In April 2017, the Governor issued an executive order reinstating the words "mother" and "father" on birth certificates.[29] Even though the Supreme Court had ordered Congress to change the Civil Code within 90 days, by December 2017, the Civil Code had still not been modified to comply with the Mexican Constitution by removing the heterosexual definition of marriage.[30] In October 2018, the Tenth District Court ruled that should the Congress fail to update its Civil Code "soon", it would hold legislators in contempt and order their dismissal from office.[31]

In December 2012, lawmakers were presented with a proposal to amend article 143 of the Civil Code of Chihuahua to legalize same-sex marriage.[32] After years with no legislative action, in July 2014, the PAN bloc announced that they would consider approving civil unions, but not same-sex marriage. LGBT groups rejected the proposal because it would not provide the possibility for the spouses to share social security benefits, pensions or other legal benefits of marriage.[33] In response to legislative inaction, a collective injunction was filed in July 2014 with the aim of having the Civil Code declared unconstitutional.[34] The collective injunction was approved on 13 November 2014 and had articles 134 and 135 of the state's Civil Code declared unconstitutional, requiring reparations to the couples and ordering the State Congress to legislate for same-sex marriage.[35] In early February 2015, Judge Cuenca Zamora ruled that the state of Chihuahua had an obligation to abide by the findings of the injunction. His legal opinion was forwarded to the Parliamentary Coordination Board to begin the legislative processes to implement change in the Civil Code.[36]

After the Supreme Court issued its directive that courts must approve injunctions for same-sex marriage based on constitutional protections that rights must be equally provided without distinction to sexual orientation, PAN Deputy María Eugenia Campos Galván presented an initiative to the Chihuahua Congress to limit marriage to one man and one woman for the purpose of procreation. Her proposal was supported by the PAN block of legislators.[37]

On 9 March 2017, a bill to amend the state Civil Code to reflect the legalization of same-sex marriage was introduced by PRD Deputy Crystal Tovar Aragón.[38][39] After two years of legislative inaction, MORENA Deputy Lourdes Valle Armendáriz introduced a new same-sex marriage bill in May 2019.[40]

The Government Palace of Chihuahua (Spanish: Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua), the seat of the state executive power

On 11 June 2015, Governor César Duarte Jáquez announced that the state would no longer prevent same-sex marriages, making Chihuahua the fourth jurisdiction in Mexico to legalize same-sex marriage.[41][42][43] Duarte Jáquez announced that licenses would be available beginning on 12 June.[1]

In September 2016, lawmakers opposed to same-sex marriage unsuccessfully tried to repeal the Governor's decree.[44]

In April 2017, multiple Mexican media outlets reported that Governor Javier Corral Jurado had issued a new decree banning same-sex marriage in the state.[45] A few days later, the Governor clarified that he had issued a decree reverting to the old birth certificate forms,[29] but denied issuing a decree banning same-sex marriage. He affirmed that same-sex couples are allowed to get married in the state without the need for a court order.[46] In addition, he said he had already personally married 30 same-sex couples in Delicias, Ciudad Cuauhémoc and Ciudad Juárez.[47]

According to the state National System for Integral Family Development, the Office of the Defense of Children and the Family performs the same protocol for all couples seeking to adopt regardless of their sexual orientation.[48] By June 2016, five same-sex couples had requested to adopt.[49] In June 2017, the birth of the daughter of a married same-sex couple was recorded in Chihuahua City, the state capital.[50] A second same-sex couple were able to successfully record the birth of their child in late June 2017.[51]