In September 2014, PRD legislator Cuauhtemoc Escobedo Tejada announced that a civil union bill and possibly a same-sex marriage bill were to be introduced by the Governor of the state for consideration. Escobeda Tejada further announced that if the Governor did not introduce a bill, the PRD would. On 4 November 2014, Escobedo presented a civil union initiative, defining the partnership as "living together, forming a heritage, having children if they wish, and dealing with situations that arise for a couple." A citizens' initiative on same-sex marriage had been presented a few weeks prior to his initiative. Debate on three initiatives with different schemes for marriage and civil unions began on 21 November 2014. On 15 June 2016, a PAN congresswoman indicated that her party was preparing another civil union proposal and would present it to Congress when ready. In April 2017, the president of the Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos de Aguascalientes announced that they would introduce a new same-sex marriage proposal. In October 2017, a PRD deputy introduced a same-sex marriage and concubinage bill to the state Congress. In April 2018, PAN, which holds a majority of seats in the Aguascalientes Congress, announced that it would continue to oppose same-sex marriage and would not allow the marriage or concubinage bills to be approved.
Injunctions
Despite same-sex marriage not being legal at the time, several same-sex couples were able to legally marry in individual cases, through a process called recurso de amparo. Amparos are commonly known as "injunctions" in English. In May 2014, a male same-sex couple requested an injunction against the Civil Registry in Aguascalientes for refusing to allow them to marry and against the constitutionality of sections 143 and 144 of the Civil Code. The injunction was approved on 29 August 2014. A lesbian couple also applied for an amparo in May and received a favorable response on 2 September 2014. On 1 September 2014, Julián Elizalde Peña, coordinator of the organization Colectivo SerGay de Aguascalientes, announced that a third injunction had been requested, and on 3 September 2014, the first same-sex wedding was held in Aguascalientes. On 13 October 2014, Elizalde Peña announced that a fourth individual amparo was pending and that a collective injunction was in process. By May 2016, seven injunctions had been granted to same-sex couples in the state. Another nine couples had requested to marry. In December 2016, another same-sex couple was granted an amparo, while on 25 January 2017, the Fourth District Court granted an amparo to two women who sought to marry in the state. In late November 2017, four more amparos were granted by the courts. By December 2017, 14 same-sex couples had married in the state. That number had increased to 23 in 2018.
Action of unconstitutionality
In 2018, an action of unconstitutionality against various articles of the Civil Code pertaining to marriage and concubinage was filed before the Mexican Supreme Court. The action, presented by the Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos de Aguascalientes, challenged, among others, articles 143, 144 and 113 bis of the Code, which limited marriage to opposite-sex couples in order to "perpetuate the species". On 2 April 2019, the full bench of the Supreme Court unanimously invalidated the state's marriage ban, ruling it void, unenforceable and unconstitutional. This effectively resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage in Aguascalientes. The Court further ruled that article 73 of the Law on the Security of Social Services for Public Servants was unconstitutional in limiting social security and health services to opposite-sex married or cohabiting couples. The Court had also, one week prior, prohibited the recognition of child marriages. The ruling came into effect upon publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation on 16 August 2019. Prior to this date, the Civil Registry had already begun issuing same-sex marriage certificates. A couple applied to marry the same day as the ruling was handed down, and wed shortly thereafter. On 6 April, a same-sex couple of 11 years wed in a Masonic ceremony.
Public opinion
A 2017 opinion poll conducted by Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica found that 50% of Aguascalientes residents supported same-sex marriage. 45% were opposed. According to a 2018 survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, 36% of the Aguascalientes public opposed same-sex marriage.
