Another great ruling from the Supreme Court of Mexico. Same-sex marriage performed Mexico City are valid — and must be treated the same as hetero marriages — everywhere in the country:
Mexico’s supreme court has ruled that same-sex marriages in Mexico City must be recognised throughout the country.
The ruling does not mean other states have to allow gay weddings on their territory.
Two of the court’s 11 judges voted against the measure, arguing that it would damage the harmony of the federal system.
Last week the supreme court ruled that the law allowing gay marriages in the capital was constitutional.
The court will now consider the legality of allowing adoption by gay couples.
This would be akin to our Supreme Court saying marriages performed in Massachusetts or Iowa must be recognized everywhere in the United States. Ha. That would mean overturning Section 2 of DOMA, codified at 28 USC § 1738C:
Section 2. Powers reserved to the states:
No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.
Seems like we’re far from that happening.
In both of the recent Massachusetts federal court decisions on DOMA, the Judge ruled that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional. That provision prohibits the granting of federal benefits to any same-sex couple (1 USC § 7):
In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.
