Homosexuality
    ✔ Legal
    Gay Marriage
    Unknown
    Censorship
    Unknown
    Changing Gender
    Unknown
    Gender-Affirming Care
    Unknown
    Non-Binary Gender Recognition
    Unknown
    Discrimination
    Unknown
    Employment Discrimination
    ✖ Sexual orientation only
    Housing Discrimination
    ✖ Sexual orientation only
    Adoption
    Unknown
    Intersex Infant Surgery
    Unknown
    Military
    Unknown
    Donating Blood
    ✔ Legal
    Conversion Therapy
    Unknown
    Age of Consent
    Unknown
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Public Opinion

Mexico City is lacking public opinion data.

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Perception of LGBTQ+ People

Survey results from 5 LGBTQ+ Equaldex users who lived in or visited Mexico City.

Overall

Overall

Perceived Safety*

Feel safe being open
Absence of verbal harassment
Absence of threats and violence
*Survey results represent personal perceptions of safety and may not be indicative of current actual conditions.

Equal Treatment

Treatment by family
Treatment at work
Treatment at school
Treatment by general public
Treatment by businesses
Treatment by law enforcement
Treatment by religious groups

Visibility & Representation

Inclusion in education
Representation in entertainment
Representation in news
Political support
Out public figures

Culture

Pride/events
Nightlife
Dating life
Interest groups and clubs

Services

Health and wellness
Gender-affirming care
Support and social services
Advocacy and legal

History

Homosexual activity in Mexico City

?

Homosexual activity in Mexico City is legal.

Current status
Since Oct 5, 1929
Legal under federal Mexico law
This previous Penal Code from 1872 was replaced in 1929. The new legal order aimed to modify the legal architecture of the Porfirio Díaz dictatorship, which was based on penal repression, to align it with the context of the constitutional guarantees and social justice proclaimed by the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

Once again, any notion of homosexuality (both male and female) was formally excluded from the document. The potential criminalization allowed by the previous code due to the vagueness of the sanctions related to 'offenses against public morality and good customs' is now technically limited solely to a prohibition of pornography. Thus, Article 536 536 (Second Book; Title 8 'Crimes against Public Morality'; Chapter I 'Offenses against Public Morality or Good Customs') mentions imprisonment and fines for those who reproduce or manufacture obscene writings, images, or objects, as well as for those who display or commercialize such obscene expressions in public.

Again, in 1931, the penal code was substituted by the one that still governs at the federal level today. However, in 1966, Article 201 (Third Book; Title 8 'Crimes against Public Morality and Good Customs'; Chapter II 'Corruption of Minors') was reformed, and for the first time, a reference to homosexuality appeared. It established imprisonment for anyone who induces or incites a minor under 18 years old to engage in 'homosexual practices.' The penalty was doubled if the act was repeated and resulted in the minor 'acquiring habits of homosexual practices.'

Finally, those last provisions that indirectly incited the criminalization of homosexuality were eliminated in the 1999 reform.
Feb 15, 1872–Oct 5, 1929
Legal under federal Mexico law
Mexico’s first Penal Code (published in 1871) which entered into force in 1872, made no reference to the criminalisation of sodomy or any other consensual same-sex act between adults.

Nevertheless, LGBTQ people could be prosecuted under the vague language of article 787 (Third Book; Title 6 'Violations against family order, public decency, or traditional customs'; chapter II 'Offences against public morals or good manners'), which never mentioned any sexual orientation or gender identity. The penalty included arrest and a fine if the alleged 'indecent act' was committed either in a public place (with or without witnesses) or in a private place.

The first known reference of the application of this article towards LGBTQ people dates from November 1901 when the scandal of the 'baile de los cuarenta y uno' (the 'Ball of the Forty-One') occurred. Police illegally raid a private home in Mexico City where 41 men (some of them dressed in women's clothing) from the upper classes of the Mexican society were attending an event. The identity of the suspects was never disclosed, but according to some sources, there are some press articles at the time that state some of them could be conscripted into the army and sent to Yucatán to public works. This was as the Caste War against the Mayan Indigenous rebels was finalising. There are seven names listed in the records of the Supreme Court who filed a writ of protection against their conscription to the army because homosexuality was not illegal in Mexico at the time. Hence, the charge was simply replaced (crime against decency), but the punishment didn't change.

This Penal Code was replaced in 1929.
Jan 1, 1600–Feb 15, 1872
Male illegal, female uncertain under federal Mexico law
From the 1600s to the short Second French intervention and the subsequent restoration of the Republic under President Juárez, sodomy was heavily criminalized in Mexico. The medieval laws issued in the Kingdom of Castile were still valid for all the territories of the Hispanic Monarchy in the Americas. These laws still heavily criminalised acts of sodomy and were still part of the chaotic Mexican legal body even after achieving independence.
In the first half of the 19th century, Mexico experienced political instability and a series of civil wars and revolts. All the efforts to enact a solid, unified legal body for this new country were unsuccessful until the 1870s.
Sources:
Garza, Federico. Quemando mariposas. Sodomía e imperio en Andalucia y México, siglos XVI-XVII. Laertes. Barcelona, 2002. (Spanish)

utpress.utexas.edu/9780292779945/ (English & Book)

database.ilga.org/mexico-lgbti

dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php… (Spanish)

Irwin, Robert McKee, et al., eds. The Famous 41: Sexuality and Social Control in Mexico 1901. New York: Palgrave, 2003. Lumsden, Ian. Homosexuality, Society and the State in Mexico. Toronto: Canadian Gay Archives, 1991. (English)

Timeline of war: napoleon.org/en/history-of-…

Translated version: www-jornada-com-mx.translat…

Original version: jornada.com.mx/2001/11/08/l…
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Same-sex marriage in Mexico City

?

Same-sex marriage in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

Censorship of LGBT issues in Mexico City

?

Censorship of LGBT issues in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

Right to change legal gender in Mexico City

?

Right to change legal gender in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

Gender-affirming care in Mexico City

?

Gender-affirming care in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Mexico City

?

Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

LGBT discrimination in Mexico City

?

LGBT discrimination in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

LGBT employment discrimination in Mexico City

?

LGBT employment discrimination in Mexico City is sexual orientation only.

Current status
Since Jan 11, 2012
Sexual orientation only under federal Mexico law
Since 2003, the Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination has defined in Article 9, sections III and IV, the following as acts of negative discrimination:
• Prohibiting the free choice of employment or restricting opportunities for access, retention, and promotion within it.
• Creating differences in wages, benefits, and working conditions for equal work.
This is directly related to sexual orientation, as the former Article 4 of this law (renumbered as Article 1, section III after the 2022 reform) explicitly includes it as a basis for potential discrimination.

Subsequently, in 2014, section V was added to the same Article 9, stating that creating differences in wages, benefits, and working conditions for equal work is also considered another act of negative discrimination.

In 2012, Article 2 of the Mexican Federal Labour Law was amended to explicitly include sexual orientation in the list of factors for which employers, both public and private, must not discriminate against their workers. This reform aimed to foster dignified working environments that uphold human dignity.
Similarly, Article 3 was also revised to state that work is a right and a social responsibility; it is not a commodity. Therefore, no discriminatory practices based on workers' sexual orientation may be allowed.
Likewise, since then, Article 56 has stipulated that working conditions may never be less favourable than those established by the Law and must be proportional to the importance of the services provided and equal for equal work, with no differences or exclusions based on sexual orientation.

LGBT housing discrimination in Mexico City

?

LGBT housing discrimination in Mexico City is sexual orientation only.

Current status
Since Jun 11, 2003
Sexual orientation only under federal Mexico law
Article 1(3) of the Federal Act to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination (2003) includes “sexual preferences” as one of the prohibited grounds of discrimination. This law applies to housing as per Article 9(XXI). Gender identity is not explicitly mentioned
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Same-sex adoption in Mexico City

?

Same-sex adoption in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

Intersex infant surgery in Mexico City

?

Intersex infant surgery in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

Serving openly in military in Mexico City

?

Serving openly in military in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

Blood donations by MSMs in Mexico City

?

Blood donations by MSMs in Mexico City is legal.

Current status
Since Dec 25, 2012
Legal under federal Mexico law
NOM 253 removes targeted restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Instead, it prohibits donations from individuals with HIV or hepatitis, their partners, and those who participate in "high-risk sexual practices," irrespective of their sexual orientation.
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Conversion therapy in Mexico City

?

Conversion therapy in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown

Equal age of consent in Mexico City

?

Equal age of consent in Mexico City is unknown.

Current status
Unknown