Church leaders of various denominations are preparing to mount a campaign to ensure that the decision taken recently by the Mexico City legislative assembly to approve gay marriage and the adoption of children by gay couples is not replicated in the rest of the country.
In last Sunday’s homily in the Mexico City Cathedral, Cardinal Norberto Rivera said, “We respect and love those with different sexual tendencies and we should safeguard their human rights, but they cannot be allowed to raise families or be called a family.
“We must do what is necessary to defend constitutionally the family.”
Comments by church leaders in the wake of the assembly’s decision have enraged some members of the capital’s ruling leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).
“For centuries, unjust laws prohibited marriage between whites and blacks or Europeans and indigenous people,” said lawmaker Victor Romo. “The final barriers have come down.”
Legislators approved revisions to the capital’s civil code to permit same-sex marriages by a margin of 39 to 20. Five legislators abstained. An amendment that attempted to block adoption by gay couples was defeated, making this a double victory for gay advocates.
Representatives of the left-wing Workers Party (PT) distanced themselves from the adoption clause. They argued that because authorities in Mexico were “highly corruptible,” the move could allow child traffickers and pedophile rings to take advantage. Legislators said that they would have voted in favor if Mexico was as trustworthy as other countries.
Catholic, orthodox and evangelical leaders called on Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard to veto the bill and permit a free vote on the issues. They have also asked President Felipe Calderon to intervene and overturn Mexico City’s new adoption policies. And they want other states to draw up legislation making gay marriage illegal.
The new legislation threatens to put the PRD on a collision course with Roman Catholics and other churches in Mexico.
Religious leaders’ hard-line stance has renewed calls from the left for an investigation into ties between the Catholic Church and the PRI and the PAN. There have also been calls to strengthen the lay state in Mexico, which leftist politicians say is under increasing threat. Some warn that the Catholic Church is gathering its forces to meddle in political affairs in 2010.
The church hit back, with Hugo Valdemar, spokesperson for the first archdiocese of Mexico saying, “The PRD is the declared enemy of the church and the family. If they were the inquisition they criticize so much, we would already be burning in the fire.”
Rivera said it was deplorable that legislators are becoming involved in these kinds of issues and not concentrating their focus on fixing urgent problems facing the capital, such as poverty, unemployment and crime.
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