A handful of anti-equality demonstrators gathered in front of the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C. on a recent Friday afternoon to denounce the continuing momentum towards marriage equality across Mexico, including a presidential proposal for federal marriage equality.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto put forward a federal marriage equality proposal to Congress on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia in May this year. The proposal is currently stalled in Congress where it would need the support of two-thirds of members to pass. Mexico City and several states have achieved marriage equality in the last few years but most states in the country do not yet have it.
Speaking at the sparsely attended protest outside the Mexican Embassy, Diego von Stauffenberg of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) called for the “defense of natural marriage between one man and one woman.” He added that the “fabric of civic order would be weakened” by marriage equality. Stauffenberg additionally called for the “content and ideology” of LGBTQ-acceptance to be excluded from public education in Mexico.
NOM and the World Congress of Families (WCF), both of which are categorized as anti-LGBTQ hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, organized the protest. An anti-equality rally dubbed the “National March for the Family” is expected to take place in Mexico City tomorrow. WCF’s new director Brian Brown is expected to attend the march.
Brown’s presence in Mexico City is part of a broader pattern of American extremists traveling the world to sow hatred towards LGBTQ people, much like they have done in the U.S. for decades with increasingly limited effectiveness. Another extremist, Scott Anderson of an Arizona-based anti-LGBTQ hate group, was banned from South Africa and arrested and deported from Botswana this week for making inflammatory anti-LGBTQ statements.
In early September, hundreds of thousands of anti-equality protesters demonstrated through major Mexican cities in rallies organized by a Catholic organization. The protesters denounced President Nieto and demanded a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality. Nevertheless, many Mexicans have come out of for marriage equality, including this famous actor in a viral video.
HRC stands with the LGBTQ community in Mexico and around the world in condemning voices of hate from anti-LGBTQ American extremists who are exporting their hate abroad.
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