stories and challenges of lesbian couples

The laws and their applications in the country

In Mexico, during 2019 the Supreme Court of Justice set a precedent with an amparo in review 852/2017, by Minister Norma Piña, in which “comaternity” is established, the voluntary recognition of children of homoparental couples, as part of the denial, in Aguascalientes, of the registration of a minor with his two mothers. This action led to certain states joining other states that were already doing so in legalizing motherhood for lesbian mothers, such as Mexico City, Coahuila, Campeche, Colima, Morelos, Querétaro, Chihuahua, Yucatán, Chiapas, San Luis Potosí and Baja California.

“At the federal level, equal marriage is pending regulation in the Federal Civil Code and with it also progress in the regulation of the voluntary recognition of sons or daughters of homoparental couples to protect the local regulations of the states and frame them in the general law of access of the women to a life free of violence, as well as adding it to the Federal Penal Code that punishes discrimination based on sexual orientation,” says Andrea Gutierrez, a gender lawyer.

“A jurist philosopher says that equality is the broadest concept of justice. And today, Mexico does not have those mechanisms that guarantee it for lesbian mothers. We need a more culture of respect for the law, awareness campaigns, visibility of violence, public policies that address these realities, creating public ministries with a gender perspective. Today the process of a victim of discrimination based on sexual orientation is slow, re-victimizing, inefficient and unfair,” he adds.

Andrea says that she had to go through times when she was violated for being a lesbian. She even narrates that a doctor told her, “You lesbians are more violent than men and then you complain. “That happens all the time.”

Ana de Alejandro is founder of the Lesbian Mothers Network of Mexico and mother of Dorian and Derek (along with Mitzly Leal, her current partner), and Santiago and Diego (whom she had with Criseida, her former partner). She says that, from the age of three, what she saw was that women, at some point in her life, accessed motherhood.

“For me it was a desirable status and it was something I always longed for. When she was little she had 10 stuffed animals and she said that those were going to be my 10 children, each one had her name. In 2002 I tried to date the current mother of my children and it was not until 2003 that she said yes to me. At that moment she herself informed her that I wanted to be a mother,” she says.

“When Diego and Santiago were created and conceived, there was not a single law that took into account lesbomaternal families. So when they were born, in 2006, they were only legally my children. In 2010 I married her mother, and it was not until August 20, 2013 that the other mother of my children was able to give them their surnames through the recognition process in the Civil Registry of Mexico City,” she says. .

In 2006, with her ex-partner Criseida and Ana they opened “The Two Moms, Virtual Activism”, a blog to meet and share experiences with lesbian mothers from other countries such as Argentina, Chile, Spain and several states in Mexico. Additionally, in 2012 she founded the Lesbian Mothers Network in Mexico, which started with about 30 mothers, and today has almost 4 thousand members, from Tapachula to Tijuana.

“In 2012 I arrived in CDMX hoping that my children’s mother could recognize our children, that is, give them her last name. We had to do this process called recognition, which is a procedure before the Civil Registry. Now it is fast and anyone can do it, but back then we were the promoters of this possibility,” she says.