Background The
Mexican Supreme Court ruled on 12 June 2015 that state bans on
same-sex marriage are unconstitutional nationwide. The court's ruling is considered a "jurisprudential thesis" and did not invalidate state laws, meaning that same-sex couples denied the right to marry would still have to seek individual
amparos in court. The ruling standardized the procedures for judges and courts throughout
Mexico to approve all applications for same-sex marriages and made the approval mandatory. The first
amparo in favor of same-sex marriage in Baja California Sur was granted on 21 October 2014. The case involved 9 same-sex couples, 14 women and 4 men, who had filed an
amparo in August 2014 contesting the constitutionality of articles 150 and 330 of the state Civil Code. Article 150 defined
marriage as the "legitimate union of a man and a woman" and whose goal was "perpetuating the species", and article 330 similarly defined
concubinage as between "a man and a woman". On 21 October, a district court judge declared the two articles unconstitutional and gave the 9 couples in question the right to marry. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the couples on
appeal in March 2016. This court decision only allowed the 9 couples involved in the case to marry. The couples were represented by LGBT activist and lawyer Nolzuly Almodóvar García. In February 2015, 18 same-sex couples, 32 women and 4 men, filed an
amparo in court seeking the right to marry their partner. It was granted by the First District Court in April 2015. Lawyer Almodóvar García has represented several same-sex couples in these
amparos. In November 2014, he helped 10 couples from
La Paz file an
amparo for the right to marry, and did so again in April 2015 for 6 more couples.
Legislative action On 9 April 2010, the
LGBT organization proposed amendments to the Civil Code of Baja California Sur to legalize same-sex marriage and
adoption by same-sex couples. No action was taken by the state Congress over the following years, as local politicians deflected the issue arguing that "the public must be consulted". Even after several court decisions in favor of same-sex couples, members of the local Congress said that the issue was not on the legislative agenda. On 25 March 2015, the Chief Justice of the Baja California Sur Supreme Court, Daniel Gallo Rodríguez, introduced a same-sex marriage bill to Congress. On 15 April, a member of Congress told the media that analysis of the proposal would begin in May 2015. On 17 May 2016, the
International Day Against Homophobia, a congresswoman from the conservative
National Action Party (PAN) announced that the bill would be voted on before 30 June. No vote took place however, and the proposal was put in the "legislative freezer" (
congelador legislativo). In the
July 2018 elections, the
National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and other parties supporting same-sex marriage won a majority of legislative seats in Congress. In September 2018, several deputies promised to push for the legalization of same-sex marriage. In May 2019, Deputy Rosalba Rodríguez López introduced a same-sex marriage bill to Congress. On 27 June 2019, the state Congress approved the legislation in a 14–5 vote with one abstention. It was signed by Governor
Carlos Mendoza Davis the same day and published in the official state gazette on 28 June. The law took effect the following day. Article 150 of the Civil Code of Baja California Sur now reads as follows: • in
Spanish: • (
Marriage is the free union of two people with the purpose of building a community of life, where both partners seek respect, equality and mutual aid, by means of domestic and sexual cohabitation.) The law granted married same-sex couples the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as married opposite-sex couples, including
property rights,
inheritance rights, hospital visitation rights, the right to make emergency medical decisions for a partner, protection from
domestic violence, etc., but with the exception of
adoption rights. In June 2022, Deputy María Guadalupe Moreno Higuera introduced legislation to Congress to permit married same-sex couples to petition to adopt. The bill was passed by the state congress in November 2022, but was vetoed by the governor in March 2024. In May 2023, the Baja California Sur Congress approved a citizen-initiated bill expanding the recognition of concubinage to same-sex couples. ==Marriage statistics==