A same-sex wedding scheduled to take place at City Hall in Baja California was thwarted for the fourth time on Saturday.
Victor Manuel Aguirre and Fernando Urias (pictured) have been trying to tie the knot in Mexicali since June 2013, but every time they show up for their scheduled appointment at City Hall, they are turned away.
When the couple showed up for their latest appointment on Saturday, they were greeted by dozens of protestors, many of whom were wearing blue surgical masks that read “only a man and a woman.” A top city official told press that the wedding ceremony had been canceled at the last minute after a complaint was filed alleging the two would-be grooms “suffer from madness.”
The complaint was submitted by a woman named Angelica Guadalupe Gonzalez Sanchez. Sanchez serves as the president of the Coalition of Baja California Families, where she and her husband offer mandatory pre-marital counseling to couples preparing for civil wedding ceremonies at Mexicali City Hall.
In her complaint, Sanchez alleged that the men acted “aggressive and impertinent” towards her after she and her husband refused to offer them the mandatory pre-marital counseling talk, claiming the sessions were designed for heterosexual couples only.
Municipal official Jose Felix Arango Perez told reporters that “the submission of the complaint by this individual obligates us to suspend the legal ceremony,” adding that it is now up to the state’s family court system to resolve the matter.
Augierre and Urias tried getting married two months earlier, but officials said they could not perform the wedding ceremony due to “unresolved paperwork issues.” But the men insist this latest move by same-sex marriage opponents will not stop them from eventually being wed.
“Of course, we are going to continue to try,” Aguirre told reporters from the steps of City Hall.
“One day, their tricks will end, and we will never get tired of trying,” added Urias.
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mcflyer54
First off the couple need to sue the city because mandatory pre-marital counseling is quite possibly illegal. If however, it is determined by a court of law that the mandatory counseling is not illegal then refusing to provide it, as stated by Angelica Guadalupe Gonzalez Sanchez, to same sex couple is absolutely illegal. Maybe Mr. & Mrs. Sanchez need to be fired from their job, along with the other homophobia bigots standing in the way of these two men getting married – which has been determined by the Supreme Court to be legal in the state of California.
jfabz
@mcflyer54: Except that Mexicali is in Mexico.
DarkZephyr
@mcflyer54: jfabz is correct. This is not part of the US California.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
When I read these stories, I take solace in the knowledge that these smcubag pigs who think they are headed to Heaven once they burn out their vile mortal coils will be so darn shocked to learn the abhorrent, noxious, hate filled way they led their lives have earned them a one way already punched, procured, and processed ticket to the bowels of hell…………..
neosoulsea
Perhaps this article should have made clear that Baja California is a state in Mexico.
Daniel-Reader
Mexico has a national non-discrimination law, so violations are still taking place.
Michael93
I like how they sound shocked at their behavior for denying them marriage counseling like “they were so rude wtf right hubby who I’m happily married to” god not fair! And I love how she went out of her way to file a complaint, as a gay man I would hate to be their neighbor
RealBlast3
LOL I know I only read this story because I thought it took place in California and was shocked. They kept referring to it as Baja California or “Mexicali” but I thought those were just Mexican or Spanish derived places in California. I have never heard Mexico referred to that way.
I feel like the word “Mexico” was purposely left out of the article because the writers know how American-centric many of us here are and that we are more interested in reading articles that take place in America, so the article was deceptively presented in such a way to generate hits and comments.
I mean, once we know this happened in a country like Mexico, the article loses all cachet and shock value, which is what they were going for by trying to make us think this happened in California.
petensfo
Ok… you guys, please try and keep a sense of humor, but…
Qweety isn’t the problem or the way it was written… the problem is all of you and your stunning lack of knowledge about California, Mexico, geography, et al. lol
Baja California is the peninsula that extends south from Tijuana between the Pacific ocean and the Gulf of California. The most southern end of the peninsula is referred to as Baja California Sur. It’s most known cities are La Paz (not Bolivia) and Cabo San Lucas.
If the names confused you, it’s likely because all of California was once part of Mexico.
(but thanks for the laugh!)
mgkbus
@petensfo: thank you!
DarkZephyr
@petensfo: I’m with you on this, though I more cringed than laughed when I saw what basically amounted to the theory/accusation that Queerty was banking on American stupidity and elitism to get clicks and comments. I mean, I’m American and I knew this. I paid attention in class when I was a teen, I guess. I personally wouldn’t purposely choose to represent Americans as idiotic self-centrists myself.
RealBlast3
I consider myself relatively well versed in geography but I can honestly say my education did not include much time on the various states of Mexico. Because let’s face it, we don’t learn everything in school, do we? Emphasis is placed on the most important, significant, and traveled to regions, and I’m sorry but those places in Mexico would not be considered important enough to focus on in school.
To claim because someone has never heard of them means they suck at geography is absolutely ridiculous. Unless you live there, there is absolutely no reason or expectation to have heard of them or have an expectation that anyone else would have. Why historical significance do you think they have that you would expect Americans to have learned about them in school? And it’s like Geography is even a class – it’s a small part of Social Studies – you really think there’s time to study the states of a 3rd-world country so one day you can show off on an internet message board?
Stache99
I know. I thought they were talking about my fav Mexican Restaurant (Mexicali) down the street. Talk about surprises.
Seriously, it’s like listening to the black pastors scream about gay menace to their communities. Meanwhile, completely ignoring the real menaces like the incarceration rates, poverty, drugs, etc. They have real problems in Mexico like gangs killing innocents and of coarse poverty but lets protest a few gay marriages.
They never want to do the real work like helping the poor or anything that relates to Jesus. Fake as you can get.
Stache99
I wish this commenting system was better like Disqus or something. Anyways, here’s a good description of them..
http://prntscr.com/5s0cwq
DarkZephyr
@RealBlast3: My education included the history of the various US States, including California which included information about the difference between the US State and the Mexican one. *shrug*
martinbakman
@neosoulsea: ….and that Mexico is a country south of California. >50% of Americans don’t know that.
gaym50ish
To be clear, same-sex marriage is not legal everywhere in Mexico, but marriages in the places where it IS legal have to be recognized throughout the country. Same-sex marriages can be legally performed in Mexico City and in the states of Quintana Roo and Coahuila.
In other places like Baja California it’s a bit “iffy” and seems to be legal or illegal at the whims of the local authorities.