Not front page news, but still…

Civil Registrar Alberto Villareal of Saltillo presided at the civil union of Karla López and Karina Almaguer of Matamoros, Tamaulipas yesterday. The two become the first same sex couple to have recognized legal rights equal to marriage at a national level in Latin America.

Villareal said his office has issued at least 15 more licenses for same sex couples, many from out of state.

(Source, and photo: El Diario de Coahuila, Saltillo)

Although they have a different name than marriages between unrelated persons of different genders, “Civil Solidarity Pacts” are the same thing, obligating two persons to mutually support each other, and recognizing the two as a single family unit (extremely important under Civil Law, which sees marriage as a contract, and the family as the basic unit of society). 

Civil Solidarity Pacts are not just for gay couples, but also for caregivers of aging relations, or — for example — elderly siblings living together and sharing expenses.  Religious services are not recognized by the State.

What was more interesting to me is how low key this is, buried in the local section of a provincial paper.