http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/16452996.htm

Northern Mexican state of Coahuila approves law recognizing gay unions
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico - The legislature for the northern Mexican state of Coahuila approved a law recognizing gay unions, the second assembly to take such an action in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

The measure, which will provide gay couples with numerous social benefits similar to those of married couples, was approved Thursday with 20 votes in favor and 13 votes against, said Rep. Julieta Lopez, of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. Lopez helped the draft the bill.

Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira, who is also in the PRI, is expected to sign the bill into law.

In November, the Mexico City assembly passed a similar measure for the first time in the nation's history.

That law has been sharply criticized by the Roman Catholic Church and the conservative National Action Party of President Felipe Calderon.

The Bishop the Coahuila city of Piedras Negras, over the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, on Friday criticized the new measure.

"This law seriously attacks the pillars of society," Bishop Alonso Gerardo Garza told reporters. "We know that many of societies problems are based in problems of marriage and the family and we are sure these will grow," if the law is signed.

While homosexuality is still taboo in many rural parts of Latin America, the region's urban areas are becoming more socially liberal. Mexico City and Coahuila join the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires and the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in legalizing same-sex civil unions.

At the national level, lawmakers in Costa Rica and Colombia have debated, but not passed, similar measures.

http://www.247gay.com/article.cfm?section=66&id=12548

Northern State of Coahuila, Mexico Approves Same-Sex Partnerships
01.12.07

By Troy Espera

The northern Mexican state of Coahuila voted 20–13 in favor of extending legal status to same-sex partnerships, becoming the second area in Mexico to adopt such a progressive policy.

Legislators in the mining and ranching region south of Texas approved the bill that gives same-sex partners greater rights than a similar law backed by Mexico City last November.

“It is more like a civil marriage,” said Silvia Solis, a gay rights activist in the capital, to Reuters. She said Coahuila would grant social security benefits to both members of a same-sex union, an important demand of gay campaigners.

The law was promoted by Coahuila's Institutional Revolutionary Party, which rules the state.

Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira, who is also in the PRI, is expected to sign the bill into law, reports the Associated Press.

That law has been sharply criticized by the Roman Catholic Church and the conservative National Action Party of President Felipe Calderon.

While homosexuality is still taboo in many rural parts of Latin America, the region's urban areas are becoming more socially liberal. Mexico City and Coahuila join the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires and the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in legalizing same-sex civil unions.

At the national level, lawmakers in Costa Rica and Colombia have debated, but not passed, similar measures.

Coahuila once formed a state with Texas, which was part of Mexico before the United States annexed much of what is now the U.S. Southwest in the mid-19th century.