The legislature
for the northern Mexican state of Coahuila approved a law
recognizing same-sex unions on Thursday, becoming the second
assembly to take such an action in the predominantly
Roman Catholic nation. The measure, which will provide
gay couples with numerous social benefits similar to
those of married couples, was approved with 20 votes in
favor and 13 votes against, said Rep. Julieta Lopez of
the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or
PRI. Lopez helped the draft the bill.
Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira, who is also
in the PRI, is expected to sign the bill into law. In
November the Mexico City assembly passed a similar
measure, the first such law in the nation's history.
That law has been sharply criticized by the Roman
Catholic Church and the conservative National Action
Party of President Felipe Calderon.
While homosexuality is still taboo in many rural
parts of Latin America, the region's urban areas are
becoming more socially liberal. Mexico City and
Coahuila join the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires and the
southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in
legalizing same-sex civil unions. At the national
level, lawmakers in Costa Rica and Colombia have debated,
but not passed, similar measures. (AP)
