The entire country of Mexico has achieved marriage equality after the final state approved it Wednesday night.
In a 23 to 12 vote (with two abstentions), Tamaulipas became the 32nd state to legalize same-sex marriage, after the state of Guerrero did so just the day before.
The state legislators had to switch rooms to finish up the vote, according to the AP, as a raucous crowd of both proponents and opponents was shouting in the balcony as they debated.
Earlier this month, the largest state in Mexico, called the State of Mexico, became the 29th of 32 states to legalize marriage equality, which seems to have created a domino effect.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
In fact, seven of the 32 states approved marriage equality just this year, with three legalizations taking place in the past two weeks, reports Inquirer.
In 2015, the Mexican Supreme Court (known as the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation) ruled it was unconstitutional for states to ban same-sex marriage, which essentially legalized it. But some states did not honor the ruling for several years.
In September 2021, the state of Sonora became the 24th state to approve marriage equality. By June 2022, there were five states left that had not legalized it. And now, there are none.
The president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Arturo Zaldívar, celebrated Tamaulipas’s news on Twitter, posting a photo of a Pride flag and writing, ” The whole country shines with a huge rainbow. Live the dignity and rights of all people. Love is love.”
Todo el país brilla con un enorme arcoíris. Vivan la dignidad y los derechos de todas las personas. Amor es amor. #MatrimonioIgualitario 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/6xFSYCE63E
— Arturo Zaldívar (@ArturoZaldivarL) October 27, 2022
The news also comes on the heels of Slovenia becoming the first country in Eastern Europe to legalize same-sex marriage. The historic moment came about in early October after a 6-3 Constitutional Court decision in July said that same-sex marriage and adoption are constitutional rights. The court ordered parliament to add an amendment within six months.
