Nayarit is now the third state in Mexico to allow modifications to birth certificates acknowledging the right to legal equality for transgender people. Michoacán approved the civil code last week, to make it the second state to do so. Mexico City made changes several years ago.
The modification to the state’s civil code was supported by 23 members of the local Congress; one voted against it and five abstained.The reform will allow transgender people to request a change to a birth certificate at civil registry and municipal offices. The new law also stipulates that no civil registry judge will be able to deny requests for reasons of conscience. Among the requirements apply are Mexican nationality, over 18 years old and present original and copy of certified birth certificate, official identification and proof of domicile.
“The request for gender identity change becomes an administrative procedure . . . bypassing procedures that questioned the identity of trans people and violated their human rights,” said the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), one of the proponents of the reform. “We’re not only talking about an acknowledgement under civil law, we’re talking about the opportunity to simplify their lives in order to obtain job and educational opportunities with nothing standing in the way of completing a legal procedure,” said Manuel Granados Covarrubias, legal advisor to the Mexico City government. Over the last three years other citizens of Mexico have requested to change their gender. 150 requests were filed by citizens from Estado de México, 130 from Veracruz and 70 from Jalisco.
LGBT rights in Mexico have been progressing in recent years. The primary advances are in recognition of same sex marriages in several states, including Jalisco and Anti discrimination. On 29 April 2003, the Federal Congress unanimously passed the “Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination”, including sexual orientation as a protected category. The law, which went into effect on 11 June 2003, created the National Council to Prevent Discrimination to enforce it. Mexico became the second country in Latin America, after Ecuador, to provide anti-discrimination protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Author: Tim Wilson
Wilson is the founder of GAYPV.com and www.gaybartour.com and has been the leading LGBTQ+ travel and lifestyle authority in Puerto Vallarta since 2005. With over two decades of local expertise, Wilson specializes in being a community advocate and leader for Puerto Vallarta , and local cultural insights that only a long-term resident can provide. He has dedicated 20+ years to advocating for safe, inclusive travel in Banderas Bay, establishing GAYPV as the region's most trusted resident insider.. His work has been cited by major travel publications, and he is widely recognized as a trusted insider voice on Puerto Vallarta’s vibrant LGBTQ+ scene.
