North Mexican state rejects attempt to redefine marriage

Culiacan, Mexico, Jun 20, 2019 / 06:40 pm (CNA).- On Tuesday, the legislature in the state of Sinaloa in northern Mexico rejected a bill which sought to redefine marriage.

The bill, which sought to amend articles 40 and 165 of the Sinaloa Family Code, was defeated by a vote of 20 to 18.

The rejection of the legislative proposal means that the Sinaloa Family Code continues to recognize in its Article 40 that marriage consists of “one man and one woman, with equal rights, duties and obligations, with the possibility to generate human reproduction in a free, responsible and informed way.”

The failed bill had sought to replace “a man and a woman” with “persons.”

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency, Rodrigo Iván Cortés, president of the National Front for the Family, said the defeat of the legislative proposal is encouraging, and shows that it is possible to “defend the institution of marriage as the basis of society” in the Sinaloa legislature.

“It’s a very relevant fact, it shines the light of hope on the rest of the Republic,” he said.

Cortés stressed that even though the bill was primarily pushed by the National Regeneration Movement Party (Morena) of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, party members split their vote on the issue.

In addition to a group of lawmakers from the Morena Party, legislators from the Labor Party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and the National Action Party, among others, voted against redefining marriage.

Cortés said that “this shows a plurality in support of the natural institution of marriage, which is noteworthy.”

The president for the National Front for the Family highlighted the work of organized civil society and noted that a few months ago, Sinaloa enshrined in its state constitution “the right to life from the moment an individual is conceived.”

Marcial Padilla, director of ConParticipación, also applauded the vote, saying that “citizens were able to clearly express their decision in support of the family and marriage, and the legislators realized that the only right and even politically profitable thing to do was to listen to the citizens.”

Padilla said that “the next thing for Sinaloa is to put aside gender ideology and care for all citizens, the minorities too, with a true inclusion without confusion.”

“Gender ideology benefits no one, but harms everybody, especially children, because it forces all of us to call marriage something that cannot be marriage,” he warned.