The Guadalajara Reporter

Ground-breaking marriage ceremony set for Saturday

Many eyes will be focused on a registry office in Guadalajara on Saturday as two women try to become the first same-sex couple to marry in the state of Jalisco.

After Guadalajara authorities blocked their bid to wed in March, Martha Sandoval and Zaira Viridiana took their struggle to federal court. Last week, a tribunal granted the couple an amparo (appeal on the grounds of unconstitutionality) that obliges the city to recognize their right to marry.  In making their decision, the tribunal (Juzgado Cuarto de Distrito en Materia Civil en el Estado) said it had cause to reinterpret recent changes to Jalisco’s Civil Code regarding the inelegibility of same-sex couples to marry, finding them “unjustified” and “discriminatory” as defined by the Mexican Constitution.

In March, Guadalajara’s Civil Registry had denied Sandoval and Viridiana’s request to marry, arguing that the state’s Civil Code states that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. They subsequently referred the matter to city hall’s legal department for “revision.”

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