Same-sex marriage in Nayarit
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the Mexican state of Nayarit since 23 December 2015. A bill for legalization was approved by the state Congress on 17 December 2015, in a 26-1 vote, with 1 abstention. It was published in the official journal, following the Governor's signature, on 22 December 2015 and took effect the following day.
History
Injunctions
In July 2014, a male same-sex couple was allowed to hold Nayarit's first same-sex wedding after a year of legal work. On 8 July, a federal judge ruled the state's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. The couple married in the state capital of Tepic. Four lesbian couples requested injunctions after being denied marriage licenses by the Civil Registry in early July 2014. On 31 October 2014, it was announced by the Asociación Civil de CODISE that nine couples were awaiting decisions on injunctions. On 3 November 2014, a lesbian couple married in Tepic after being granted an injunction. On 13 November 2014, the third same-sex marriage was held in Tepic for a lesbian couple who had gained an amparo on 22 October 2014. The fourth same-sex marriage in Nayarit took place in the second week of December 2014, making it the third lesbian union in the state. On 27 January 2015, the fifth same-sex marriage occurred in Tepic between two women. It was the first marriage in which the injunction had been approved by local authorities, rather than the federal district courts.Legislative action
On 13 March 2015, members of CODISE handed Congress a bill to legalise same-sex marriage.On 25 June 2015, Deputy Luis Manuel Hernández Escobedo, from the Party of the Democratic Revolution, introduced a new bill allowing same-sex couples to marry and making the definition of concubinage gender-neutral. On 17 December 2015, Congress approved the bill, in a 26-1 vote, with 1 abstention. The bill was published in the official journal, following Governor Roberto Sandoval Castañeda's signature, on 22 December 2015, and took effect the following day.
Article 135 of the Nayarit Civil Code now reads as follows:
- in Spanish: El matrimonio es un contrato civil, por el cual dos personas, se unen en sociedad para realizar vida en común, procurando entre ambos respeto, igualdad y ayuda mutua.
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- in Spanish: El concubinato es la unión de hecho entre dos personas, que realizan en forma continua, pública e ininterrumpida una vida en común de manera notoria y permanente, sin que medie vínculo matrimonial entre sí, o con terceras personas.
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| Political party | Members | Yes | No | Abstain | Absent |
| Institutional Revolutionary Party | 15 | 14 | 1 | ||
| National Action Party | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Party of the Democratic Revolution | 5 | 5 | |||
| Labor Party | 2 | 2 | |||
| Ecologist Green Party | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Total | 30 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Adoption by same-sex couples
The same-sex marriage legislation, which took effect in December 2015, does not address same-sex adoptions.In October 2016, a federal judge ruled that the daughter of a married lesbian couple must be registered with the surnames of both her mothers. The judge argued that denying the application for registration of the newborn violates the interests of the child and violates the right to identity. A few days later, the head of the Civil Registry announced that the state will continue to refuse to register both surnames of same-sex parents unless Congress changes the law or if more injunctions are granted by the courts.
It was revealed in May 2018 that 8 same-sex couples were filing applications to adopt. According to a 2017 survey by CONAPRED, 44% of the Nayarit population supported adoption by same-sex couples.
Marriage statistics
The following table shows the number of same-sex marriages performed in Nayarit since legalization in 2015, as reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.Public opinion
A 2017 opinion poll conducted by Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica found that 50% of Nayarit residents supported same-sex marriage. 47% were opposed.According to a 2018 survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, 39% of the Nayarit public opposed same-sex marriage.