LGBT rights in Mexico City


LGBT rights in Mexico City are more considerably more progressive than the rest of Mexico. On March 4, 2010, it became the first area in Mexico to issue same-sex marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Legal status of homosexuality

Homosexuality is legal in Mexico City since the country's adoption of the Napoleonic Code.

LGBT adoption

Joint legal adoption by same-sex couples is legal in Mexico City since 2010.

Recognition of same-sex unions

Same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City, having been approved by its Legislative Assembly on 21 December 2009, and signed into law by Head of Government Marcelo Ebrard on 29 December 2009. The law was effective on 4 March 2010.
Civil unions, known as Sociedades de Convivencia and offering some of the rights of marriage, have been legal in the city since November 2006.

Changing legal gender

Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name in Mexico City since August 29, 2008.

Anti-LGBT violence

Between 1995 and 2005, 126 homosexuals were murdered in Mexico City. Of those, 75 percent were reclaimed by their families. In 10 percent of the cases, families identified the victim but did not reclaim their bodies and the remaining 5 percent were never identified.
Former assistant attorney for crime victims at the Federal District Attorney General's Office Barbara Illan Rondero strongly criticized the lack of sensitivity and professionalism on the part of investigators in crimes committed against homosexuals and lesbians:
Alejandro Brito Lemus, director of the news supplement Letra S, claimed that only four percent of gays and lesbians who suffer from discrimination present their complaints to authorities:

History of LGBT rights