Hundreds Marry in Mass LGBTQ+ Wedding in Mexico City

In Mexico City, hundreds of same-sex couples were married Friday during the first Pride celebration since the pandemic forced the city's annual mass ceremony to be postponed two years ago due to health concerns.

A band played traditional tunes like Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" as couples exchanged their vows, the Associated Press reports. The city's government hosted the large-scale wedding ceremony in its civil registry plaza as part of its annual Pride Month celebrations. Around 100 same-sex couples traveled hundreds of miles to attend the event.

Since 2010, 26 out of the 32 states in the country have legalized same-sex marriages.

Mexico is one of three Latin American countries with the highest number of same-sex marriages, along with Brazil and Argentina. The Mexican Supreme Court has ruled twice in favor of marriage equality.

However, many couples live in areas of the country that are less supportive of their identities, similar to places in the United States. Mayela Villalobos and Dayanny Marcelo live in Guerrero, one of the Mexican states that does not recognize marriage equality.

The couple traveled nearly 250 miles to attend the mass wedding. When Villalobos saw rainbow flags fluttering from many public buildings in the capital and small ones outside businesses, she couldn't help but compare it to her native state and her current residence in Guerrero.

"In the same country, the people are very open, and in another [place] ... the people are close-minded, with messages of hate toward the community," she said.

Elihu Rendon and Javier Vega Candia, from Mexico City, told the AP of a vastly different experience as they prepared to marry. They explained that they show affection freely as they walk around town, holding hands and living openly without many concerns.

"We're in a city where they're opening all of the rights and possibilities to us, including doing this communal LGBT wedding," Vega Candia told the news wire while showing off Rendon's ring.

"I'm happy to have been born in this city thinking that we have these rights and not in another country where we could be killed," Vega Candia said.

Although Marcelo plans to use her marriage certificate to get Villalobos's health insurance through her employer, neither couple expects significant changes in their day-to-day lives. Nevertheless, they realize the value of having a legal document tying them together.

"With a marriage certificate, it is easier," Marcelo said. "If something happens to me or something happens to her, we'll have proof that we're together."

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