LGBT rights in Mexico

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights in Mexico have expanded in recent years, in keeping with worldwide legal trends. The intellectual influence of the French Revolution and the brief French occupation of Mexico (1862–67) resulted in the adoption of the Napoleonic Penal Code, which decriminalized homosexuality in 1871. However, laws against public immorality or indecency could be used against homosexual acts. The age of consent at which there are no restrictions for consensual sexual activities, regardless of sexual orientation, is 18. Mexican states have a "primary" age of consent, which may be as low as 12, and sexual conduct with persons below that age is always illegal. Sexual relations between adults and teenagers are left in a legal gray area, with situational laws that are subject to interpretation.

As the influence of foreign and internal cultures, especially from progressive Mexico City, grows in all of Mexico, attitudes are beginning to change. Remarkably in the largest metropolitan areas such as Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana, where education and access to foreigners and foreign news media are greatest. But change continues to be slow in the hinterlands, and even in the big cities discomfort with change often leads to backlashes. Tolerance for sexual diversity in certain indigenous cultures is widely seen, especially among Isthmus Zapotecs and Yucatán Mayas. Since the early 1970s, influenced by the U.S. gay liberation movement and the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, a substantial number of LGBT organizations has emerged, and visible and well-attended LGBT marches and pride parades have occurred in Mexico City since 1979 and in Guadalajara since 1996.

Political and legal gains have been made through the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), and other leftist but minor parties such as the Labor Party (PT) and Convergence, and occasionally the centrist and long-governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Some of them include the 2001 amendment to Article 1 of the Federal Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation under the vague term preferences, the 2003 federal anti-discrimination law and the recognition of same-sex civil unions in Mexico City and Coahuila. Same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples have been legal in Mexico City since early March 2010.

LGBT movement : In the early 1970s, influenced by the U.S. gay liberation movement and the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, some small political and cultural groups were formed, and initially strongly linked to the political left and, to some degree, to feminists organizing. One of the first LGBT groups in Latin America was the Homosexual Liberation Front (Frente de Liberación Homosexual), organized in 1971, in response to the firing of a Sears employee because of his supposedly homosexual behavior in Mexico City. The Homosexual Front of Revolutionary Action (Frente Homosexual de Acción Revolucionaria) protested the 1983 roundups in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The onset of AIDS in the mid-1980s created considerable debate and public discussion about homosexuality. Many voices, both supportive and oppositional, such as the Roman Catholic Church, participated in public discussions that increased awareness and understanding of homosexuality. LGBT groups were instrumental in initiating programs to combat AIDS, a shift in focus that curtailed, at least temporarily, emphasis on gay organizing.

In 1991, Mexico hosted a meeting of the International Gay and Lesbian Association (ILGA), the first it had met outside of Europe. In 1997, LGBT activists were active in constructing the political platform that resulted in Patria Jiménez, a lesbian activist in Mexico City, being selected for a proportional representation in the Chamber of Deputies representing the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). And LGBT rights advocate David Sánchez Camacho was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (ALDF). In August 1999, the First Meeting of Lesbians and Lesbian Feminists was held in Mexico City. From this meeting evolved an organized effort for expanded LGBT rights in the country's capital.[4] The following month, the PRD-controlled Legislative Assembly passed an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, the first of its kind in Mexico at the time.

Visible and well-attended LGBT marches and pride parades have occurred in Mexico City since 1979 and in Guadalajara since 1996, the country's largest cities. In 2001, Article 1 from the Federal Constitution was amended to prohibit discrimination based, among other factors, on sexual orientation under the vague term preferences. Two year later, a federal law anti-discrimination was passed, which created a national council to enforce it, and went into effect on 11 June. The same year, Amaranta Gómez ran as the first transgender congresswoman candidate under the affiliation of the defunct Mexico Posible. In 2006, Mexico City legalized same-sex civil unions. The second Latin American jurisdiction to do so after Buenos Aires, Argentina legalized them in 2002. The law allows same-sex couples to gain access to inheritance and pension rights. The following year, the northern state of Coahuila legalized same-sex civil unions. In 2008, the PRD-controlled Legislative Assembly approved a law that allows transgender people to change their legal gender and name in Mexico City. In December 2009, Mexico City's Legislative Assembly passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples in the jurisdiction, which became effective in early March 2010.

LGBT people in Mexico have organized in a variety of ways, through local organizations, marches, and the development of a Commission to Denounce Hate Crimes. Mexico has a thriving LGBT movement with organizations in various large cities throughout the country and numerous LGBT publications. More prominently in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana and Puebla. The vast majority of them at the local level, with national efforts often coming apart before they begin.

LGBT influence on politics : LGBT participation is discreetly seen in the long-governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Ever since the triumph of the Liberals under President Benito Juárez in the 1860s and the 1910 Revolution, there has been a strong separation of church and state in Mexico. With morality generally considered the province of the Church, the PRI, which considers itself the party of the Revolution, has generally been reluctant to be seen as carrying out the will of the Catholic Church. Yet it has also been mindful of not offending Catholic moral sensibilities. In 1998, then-President Ernesto Zedillo (PRI) appointed Pedro Joaquín-Coldwell, an openly bisexual politician and former governor of Quintana Roo, ambassador to Cuba. Nonetheless, most individual office holders tend to view LGBT issues as a private matter to be ignored or a moral problem to be opposed. The PRI has allied with the PAN to block any legislation concerning LGBT rights in some states, except for two cases. The party unanimously voted in favor of the recognition of same-sex civil unions in Mexico City and Coahuila. The events generated some internal debate within the PRI about whether or not the party should have platform plank on the matter.

The National Action Party (PAN), a center-right party, tends to endorse Roman Catholic Church teachings and oppose LGBT issues on moral grounds. Some PAN mayors have adopted ordinances or policies that have led to the closing of gay bars, or detention of transvestites, usually on charges of prostitution. Many of its leaders have taken public stands variously describing homosexuality as "abnormal", as a "sickness", or as a "moral weakness." In the 2000 presidential elections, then-PAN candidate and eventual winner Vicente Fox used homosexual stereotypes as a way to demean and humiliate his principal opponent, Francisco Labastida, by accusing him of being a sissy and a mama's boy, and nicknamed him Lavestida (literally the cross-dressed). When Mexico City and Coahuila legalized same-sex civil unions, the main opposition came from the PAN, former President Vicente Fox and current-President Felipe Calderón. Since then, the party has opposed to similar bills under the argument of protecting traditional family values. Nonetheless, PAN officials have insisted that homosexuals have rights as human beings, and should in no case be subjected to hatred or physical violence.

Participation by sexual minorities is widely accepted in the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), one of Mexico's three major political parties. Since its creation in the late 1980s, the PRD has supported LGBT rights and has a specific party program committed to ending discrimination on the basis of sexual diversity. In the 1997 parliamentary elections, Patria Jiménez became the first openly lesbian member of the Federal Congress, and LGBT rights advocate David Sánchez Camacho was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (ALDF). Two years later, the PRD-controlled Legislative Assembly passed an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, the first of its kind in the country at the time. In 2008, a PRD-backed bill concerning gender identity was passed, which allows transgender people to change their gender and sex on official documents. In the 2009 parliamentary elections, out of the 38 LGBT candidatures presented by several political parties, only Enoé Uranga succeeded, an openly lesbian politician who in 2000 promoted the legalization of same-sex civil unions in Mexico City. The bill successfully passed six years later in the PRD-controlled Legislative Assembly, allowing same-sex couples to gain access to inheritance and pension rights. Similar bills have been proposed by the PRD in at least six states. In December 2009, Mexico City's PRD-controlled Legislative Assembly passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples in the jurisdiction. Eight days later after congressional approval, PRD Head of Government ("Mayor") Marcelo Ebrard signed the same-sex marriage bill into law, which went into effect in early March 2010.Other leftist but minor parties are Convergence and the Labor Party (PT). Both have continuously supported the LGBT community and PRD-proposed bills regarding LGBT rights.

The extinct Social Democratic Party (PSD), a minor progressive political party, was prominently noted by its wide support for the LGBT community. In the 2006 presidential elections, Patricia Mercado, the first woman presidential candidate, was the only one who openly supported same-sex marriage. In the 2009 parliamentary elections, nominated 32 LGBT candidates, out of a total of 38 presented by other parties, for seats in the Federal Congress. Meanwhile, in the municipality of Guadalajara, the second-largest city of Mexico, Miguel Galán became the first openly gay politician to run for a mayorship in the country. During campaign, Galán was a target of homophobic comments, notably by Green Party rival Gamaliel Ramirez, who on a radio show cracked crude jokes about homosexuals and referred to the PSD as "a dirty party of degenerates". Ramirez also called homosexual practices "abnormal" that should be outlawed. The following days Ramirez issued a written apology after his party condemned his comments.Despite losing the mayorship, Galán received a total of 7,122 votes, the most for any openly gay politician in Mexico.

HIV and AIDS issues : The first AIDS case in Mexico was diagnosed in 1983. Based on retrospective analyses and other public health investigation techniques, HIV in Mexico can be traced back to 1981. LGBT groups were instrumental in initiating programs to combat AIDS, a shift in focus that curtailed, at least temporarily, emphasis on gay organizing.

The National Center for the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS (CENSIDA) is a program that promotes the prevention and the control of the AIDS pandemic, by means of public policies, promotion of the sexual health and other strategies based on the evidence to diminish the transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (VIH) and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) and to improve the quality of life of the affected people, in a frame of respect to the rights of all the population. CENSIDA has been active since 1988 and collaborates with other government entities as well as with non-governmental organization organizations including those of persons living with HIV/AIDS.

With 0.3 percent of the adult population estimated to be HIV-positive, Mexico has one of the lowest HIV prevalence rates in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although the overall HIV prevalence is low, UNAIDS estimates that, because of Mexico's large population, approximately 200,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2007. The second largest affected population in the region after Brazil, which had 730,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. According to CENSIDA, as of 2009, over 220,000 adults are HIV-positive; 60% are men who have sex with men (MSM), 23% are heterosexual women, and 6% are commercial sex workers' clients, mainly heterosexuals. Over 90% of the reported cases were the result of sexual transmission.

The spread of HIV/AIDS in Mexico is exacerbated by stigma and discrimination (S&D), which act as a barrier to prevention, testing, and treatment. S&D occur within families, health services, the police, and the workplace. A study conducted by Infante-Xibille in 2004 of 373 health care providers in three states in Mexico described discrimination within health services. HIV testing was conducted only with perceived high-risk groups, often without informed consent. Patients with AIDS were often isolated. A 2005 five-city participatory community assessment by Colectivo Sol, a non-governmental organization organization, found that some HIV hospital patients had a sign over their beds stating they were HIV-positive. There was also discrimination in the workplace. In León, Guanajuato, researchers found that seven out of 10 people in the study had lost their jobs because of their HIV status. The same study also documented evidence of discrimination that MSM experienced within their families.

In August 2008, Mexico hosted the 17th International AIDS Conference, a meeting that contributed to breaking down stigmas and highlighting the achievements in the struggle against the illness. In late 2009, José Ángel Córdova, Health Secretary, said in a statement that Mexico has met the United Nation Millennium Development Goal concerning HIV/AIDS that demands that countries halt and begin to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS before 2015. The infection rate for HIV is 0.4 percent at this time, below the 0.6 percent target set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for Mexico. About 70 percent of the people requesting treatment for HIV/AIDS arrive without symptoms of the disease, which increases life expectancy by at least 25 years. Treatment against HIV/AIDS in Mexico is free and is currently offered at 57 specialized clinics to 30,000 of the 60,000 people living with HIV. The Mexican government spends about $2 billion MXN ($155 million USD) each year on fighting the disease.