Members of the LGBT community hold a rainbow flag during a Kissathon event to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, outside Bellas Artes Palace near downtown Mexico City, Mexico May 17, 2019.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS/Luis Cortes
Lawmakers in the border state of Tamaulipas voted on Wednesday night to legalise same-sex marriages, becoming the last of Mexico’s 32 states to authorise such unions.
The measure to amend the state’s Civil Code passed with 23 votes in favour, 12 against and two abstentions, setting off cheers of “Yes, we can!” from supporters of the change.
The session took place as groups both for and against the measure chanted and shouted from the balcony, and legislators eventually moved to another room to finish their debate and vote.
The president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Arturo Zaldívar, welcomed the vote. “The whole country shines with a huge rainbow. Live the dignity and rights of all people. Love is love,” he said on Twitter.
A day earlier, lawmakers in the southern state of Guerrero approved similar legislation allowing same-sex marriages.
In 2015, the Supreme Court declared state laws preventing same-sex marriage unconstitutional, but some states took several years to adopt laws conforming with the ruling.