Mérida, Yucatán — A bill supporting transgender citizens will be submitted to the legislature, said a New Alliance Party politician.
David Barrera Zavala, whose progressive Partido Nueva Alianza (Panal) has been supportive of LGBTQ issues, said his party also seeks to propel stalled same-sex marriage legislation.
In an interview with La Jornada Maya, Barrera Zavala noted that marriage equality bills have been gathering dust for two years, awaiting debate.
“We see that the political will is lacking, mainly from the PRI, which is the one that has the majority in the Plenary and in the commissions, to be able to enter the discussion,” he said.
The president in 2016 announced a constitutional reform to legalize same-sex marriage across Mexico. The announcement followed a Supreme Court ruling in 2016 declaring that bans on same-sex marriages are unconstitutional.
“Legally, the question is basically settled,” says Lester Feder, a reporter for Buzzfeed. “But there’s an implementation problem and that is what has brought this to a broader conflict.”
Only a handful of the country’s 31 states and Mexico City allow gay weddings.
Transgender people have been allowed to change their gender and name on their birth certificates in Mexico City since 2004, but states including Yucatán have been reluctant to adopt the same measure.
The Panal caucus will submit legislation that would allow transgender people to stay in Yucatán and have those same rights, said Barrera Zavala.
If no action is taken, the legislature will be complicit in human rights violations because the Supreme Court has ruled that everyone is free to marry whoever they want and have the identity they want, he said.
The PRI’s hold in Mexico appears headed for “a drubbing,” and Yucatán may be the last state with a PRI majority after the July 1 general election, reports the Financial Times.
Source: La Jornada Maya, Public Radio International, Financial Times
