A lawmaker in Mexico’s capital has proposed changing the city’s civil code to allow gay marriages.

Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church opposes the proposal. The church defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, as does current law.

Lawmaker David Razu says the changes he is proposing would give same-sex couples the same rights heterosexual couples have regarding social security and other benefits.

Gays and lesbians, he said, “pay taxes like everyone else, obey the law like everyone else, build the city like everyone else, and there is no reason they should have a different and special set of rules.”

The proposal has been sent to committees for consideration, but no date for a vote has been set.

“The Church believes that marriage is not only a contract but a sacrament instituted by God for a man and a woman to share life together and be the nucleus of society,” father Jose De Jesus Aguilar of the Archdiocese of Mexico told the Associated Press.

Mexico is a heavily Roman Catholic country.

The leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party, which dominates Mexico City’s legislature, has already legalized abortion and civil unions for same-sex couples.

Tags: Catholic Church, Marriage Equality, Mexico, Mexico City

Filed under: North America