[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Mexico [official website, in Spanish] on Thursday ruled [judgment, PDF; in Spanish] 8-2 that a Mexico City law allowing same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] is constitutional. The law, passed last year [JURIST report], was challenged by Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chavez [official website, in Spanish], who had argued that allowing same-sex marriages violates the guarantee of familial integrity under the Mexican Constitution [text, PDF]. It was also challenged by the state governments of Jalisco and Baja California, which argued that the same-sex marriage law had a negative impact on them. The court rejected their arguments, finding that the constitution did not specify what constituted a family. The court found that the regulation of marriage licenses was a state function. The court will rule next week on the issue of adoption [El Universal report, in Spanish] by same-sex couples, which was allowed under the Mexico City law, and whether the marriages must be recognized nationwide.

In December, Mexico City’s legislative assembly [official website, in Spanish] approved the same-sex marriage law. The legislation allows for marriage, adoption, inheritance and other economic and social rights. The provisions also seeks to end discrimination based on sexual orientation. The state of Chihuahua is currently the only state in Mexico that recognizes same-sex civil unions [JURIST news archive]. Last month, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez [official website, in Spanish] signed a same-sex marriage bill into law after the bill was approved by the legislature [JURIST reports], making Argentina the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide. On Wednesday, a US federal judge ruled that the California state ban on same-sex marriage violated the US Constitution [JURIST report]. Same-sex marriage is also recognized in Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and South Africa [JURIST reports].