Piedras Negras, Mexico – A lesbian couple registered what officials called Mexico’s first gay civil union Wednesday in the northern city of Saltillo.
The couple, Karina Almaguer and Karla Lopez, traveled to Saltillo from their home state of Tamaulipas to register as a “civil solidarity union” under a newly passed law that made Coahuila the first of Mexico’s 31 states to grant recognition to such unions.
TV footage showed the couple smiling broadly and shaking hands with officials after the simple ceremony at a registrar’s office.
Coahuila State Assemblywoman Julieta Lopez Fuentes, who served as an official witness, said the law passed earlier this month allows people from other states to register such unions in Coahuila.
“The object of this law is that unions of people of the same sex be legally regulated and recognized, so that they can have some security in their future,” she said.
Lopez Fuentes said it was the first gay civil union in Mexico.
In November, Mexico City passed a similar measure, the first in the nation’s history, but that law will not go into effect until mid-March.
Such laws, which provide gay couples with numerous social benefits similar to those of married couples, have been sharply criticized by the Roman Catholic Church and the conservative National Action Party of President Felipe Calderon.
