video transcript

Gay rights activists celebrate a legal victory in the streets of the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. Last week Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that a law banning gay marriages in Oaxaca was unconstitutional. The law paves the way for same-sex couples to marry in that state and elsewhere in the country. The tribunal dismissed a law that declared the purpose of marriage was to "prolong the species." The court also said in its ruling that conditioning marriage unions to those between a man and a woman "violated the principle of equality." Luna Violeta, an indigenous gay and transvestite from Oaxaca, was pleased with the ruling. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) INDIGENOUS GAY AND TRANSVESTITE, LUNA VIOLETA, SAYING: "It's a very important resolution that the supreme court recognises our civil rights as people and Mexican citizens." The ruling by the court stems from a lawsuit filed by three gay couples against Oaxaca state. Alex Ali Mendez Diaz, from the Oaxacan Front for the Respect and Recognition of Sexual Diversity, helped the couples file the lawsuit. He said the ruling only protects those three couples who requested the appeal, and further legal action is necessary. In 2010, Mexico City became the first capital in mainly Catholic Latin America to pass a law allowing gay couples the same marriage and adoption rights as heterosexuals.