Tens Of Thousands March To Undo Marriage Equality In Mexico
President Enrique Peña Nieto wants to legalize same-sex marriage across Mexico, prompting thousands to take to the streets in opposition on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of people marched in Mexico City on Saturday to protest President Enrique Peña Nieto's proposed constitutional amendment to establish marriage equality nationwide.
Organizers said 250,000 people marched, though the Mexico City's mayor's office reportedly counted 80,000.
Mexico's Supreme Court has recognized same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in a series of rulings beginning in 2012. But because the Supreme Court doesn't have the power to simply overturn all state marriage laws at once, couples in most states still must sue in order to marry.
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The president's proposal was declared "frozen" by congressional leaders of his own party, though two other left-wing parties are still hoping to get marriage equality legislation on the agenda.
But there are two proposals to outlaw marriage equality also potentially pending in Congress. These were proposed as two separate "citizens initiatives," and groups collected the hundreds of thousands of signatures required to force Congress to consider them.
Marco Ugarte / AP