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Mexico City Passes "Express Divorce" and "Gender Identity" Legislation

"Transgenders" will be able to change the sex listed on their birth certificate

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MEXICO CITY, September 9, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Mexico City, whose law depenalizing abortion on demand during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy was recently upheld by the nation's Supreme Court, is now proceeding with "express divorce" and "gender identity" legislation that will further revolutionize family law in the troubled city.

The city's new divorce legislation, which was quietly passed during the Supreme Court's deliberations, abolishes the list of necessary reasons for divorce, and allows either spouse to end the marriage simply by requesting it from a judge, who will terminate the union one month later.

Opposition representative Jose Antonio Zepeda pointed out that the availability of "express divorce" would subject at least one spouse to the threat of sudden eviction from their homes, according to the newspaper La Jornada.  In Mexico, the husband is often the legal owner of the couple's property.

Mexico City's legislature has also approved a measure that will allow "transsexuals", "transgenders" and transvestites to change the gender listed on their birth certificates.  Transgender people are those who claim a sexual identity distinct from their actual sex, while transvestites are typically male prostitutes who dress as women in order to attract clientele. The bill is awaiting the signature of the city's executive.

"Both laws are in agreement with the ideology that prevails in the Party of the Democratic Revolution. It's an ideology that sadly attacks life and family, the traditional values of this country," Rocio Galvez, President of Mexico's National Pro-Life Committee, told LifeSiteNews.

"Taking advantage of the fact that many of the groups and Catholic Church leaders were focusing all of their attention" on the topic of abortion, they used the opportunity "to approve these two laws, which are a movement towards destroying the integrity of people and families in our city," said Galvez.

Galvez believes that the ability to quickly and easily end a marriage will reduce social respect for the institution and discourage people from entering into the institution in the first place, and make women even more vulnerable in the marriage relationship. She is also concerned that the ability to change one's birth certificate will be used to escape the consequences of a criminal record.

The measures represent a panoply of legislation that is likely to undermine families in the nation's Federal District. In addition to the two new laws and the legalization of abortion, the city has also been registering civil unions for homosexuals since 2007.

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