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As Mexico prepares for Saturday's march against gay-marriage, LGBTQ and human rights activists are speaking out against the underlying homophobia and the actors promoting it.
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The National Council to Prevent Discrimination, a state-backed institution, released a statement Friday saying that the refusal to recognize the right of gay couples to marry constituted “an affront to their dignity and their integrity.”
Saturday's march against gay-marriage was organized in response to a proposal by President Enrique Peña Nieto for a constitutional reform to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide and has been promoted by conservative and religious sectors.
Supporters of same-sex marriage contend that some of the language used in the lead-up to the march has promoted hate toward LGBTQ people.
The National Council to Prevent Discrimination appeared to respond directly to that charge.
“Encouraging discrimination against people because of their sexual and gender orientation or status, as well as trying to exclude families that do not replicate the traditional nuclear model, through expressions and speeches that may incite hatred and violence, as has happened in recent months, violates the human rights of all people,” read the statement by the council.
Meanwhile the The National Pride Front of Mexico, which brings together 70 LGBT rights organizations, said they would launch a campaign to ask Pope Francis to remove Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera for “promoting hate.”
Cardinal Rivera has been one of the most vocal opponents of same-sex marriage in Mexico, which critics say has descended into homophobia.
“We want to stop the speeches of violence. We respect freedom of expression and we have open arms. The Church says that it preaches love for your neighbor, but today we see that it promotes hatred,” said Patria Jimenez, a spokesperson for the Front, as quoted by Proceso.
The National Pride Front of Mexico also said they would hold a rally to defend a “democratic and secular state” on Sunday.
Last June the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that every civil state authority should "recognize marriage as a human right and that people can enter into marriage without any kind of discrimination." But the ruling was not compulsory for all states and couples across the country have had to sue in court in order to gain the right to marry.
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