Same-sex marriage in Michoacán

After 4 years of legal process,[12] a federal court ruled on 5 March 2014 that the state had unfairly discriminated against a lesbian couple, Alejandra Banderas Rosales and Claudia Brizeiry López Ramos, by preventing them from marrying. The court ordered the local civil registrar to perform the marriage.[13] The couple married in Morelia on 12 March 2014.[14]

On 6 May 2014, it was announced that a second lesbian couple, Elizabeth Cervantes Guerrero and Cecilia González Villanueva, had obtained an injunction (amparo), and seven more cases were pending.[15] The couple married on 16 May and subsequently on 15 August 2014 filed the registration of their twin children's birth, which had also been approved by an injunction. It was the first registration in the state of a child born to a same-sex couple.[16] Gerardo Herrera Pérez, president of Grupo de Facto Diversidad Sexual en Michoacán, announced that they had collected 100 signatures for a collective injunction in September 2014 and the initiation of the first same-sex adoption in the state by a couple who had married in Mexico City.[17][18]

It was announced on 20 June 2015 that a third lesbian couple had obtained an injunction to marry.[19] On 29 June 2015, the Civil Registry stated that they had formalized six same-sex unions in the previous year.[20] On 10 July 2015, a judge from the Seventh District Court ordered the state to accommodate a lesbian couple's injunction. The ruling gave the Governor of Michoacán and the President of Congress until 15 July 2015 to make the arrangements and revise the laws regarding marriage, or face penalties. The attorney leading the injunction told the media that state leaders would be found liable for not vetoing the discriminatory parts of the Family Code in accordance with the judge's order.[21] It was announced on 13 July that Congress would abide by the judge's ruling.[22] When questioned by the media on 14 July, Governor Salvador Jara Guerrero declared that the changes would be applied on 15 July and was quoted as saying "Of course!" to removing the heterosexual definition of marriage in the state's code.[23] On 31 July 2015, it was announced that an additional 19 injunctions to marry had been granted to same-sex couples in Michoacán. In making the announcement, deputies Talía Vázquez Alatorre and Cristina Portillo Ayala regretted that the Congress still had yet to act, but hoped that these further injunctions would emphasize the need for passage of the reforms to the Family Code.[24]

Previously, the Family Code prevented same-sex couples from marrying. Article 123 (now known as article 127) defined marriage as the "union of a man and a woman", and article 125 (now repealed) described marriage as an institution whose goal was "perpetuating the species". Numerous state and federal judges had declared these two articles unconstitutional and discriminatory, and granted individual same-sex couples the right to marry.

On 18 May 2016, the Congress of Michoacán approved a same-sex marriage bill by 27 votes to 0 with 8 abstentions. This had followed previous attempts to pass a domestic partnership law instead of a same-sex marriage law as required by a judicial ruling in July 2015.[25][26] The law was published in the state's official journal on 22 June 2016, following Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo's signature, and came into effect on 23 June. It allows same-sex couples to adopt children jointly.[27]

Article 127 of the Family Code now reads:[28]

• in Spanish: El matrimonio es la unión legítima de dos personas para realizar una comunidad de vida permanente, en la que se procuren respeto, igualdad y ayuda mutua.
• (Marriage is the legal union of two people who establish a permanent life together, in which they seek respect, equality and mutual assistance.)

The following table shows the number of same-sex marriages performed in Michoacán since legalization in 2016, as reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.[29]

86 same-sex marriages took place in the state between June 2016 and May 2017. Most of these marriages were performed in Morelia, the state's capital, followed by Uruapan, Zamora, Apatzingán, La Piedad, Lázaro Cárdenas, Pátzcuaro and Puruándiro.[30] Additionally, the Civil Registry began training its employees to realise that same-sex marriage is indeed legal in Michoacán, as according to some reports several same-sex couples were turned away when applying for marriage certificates.[31]