Mexico’s conservative state of Puebla approves gay marriage

MEXICO CITY – The legislature in the conservative central Mexico state of Puebla voted late Tuesday to allow marriages between same-sex couples, as well as common-law marriages for them.

Same-sex couples would have all the legal marrriage rights as others, as would common-law marriages, which are legally recognized when couples live together for more than two years or have children.

Puebla has long been known for religious conservativism, but current Gov. Miguel Barbosa is a member of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s progressive Morena party. Barbosa is expected to sign the bill into law.

Gay marriage is now legal only in a few places in the country, such as Mexico City, the northern state of Coahuila and Quintana Roo state on the Caribbean coast.

López Obrador is religious and relatively conservative on some social issues and has shown no appetite for pushing the issue on a national basis.