Even Mexico Is Ahead Of US

I couldn't help but notice an item on gay.com from the Associated Press. Mexican jails are beginning to allow same-sex conjugal visits for gay inmates.

Mexico? Conservative, backward, heavily-Catholic Mexico? How many nations have to pass the United States by on issues like this before we wake up and realize that we Americans are living in the social dark ages?

The complete story follows:

Mexican jails OK gay conjugal visits

published Monday, July 30, 2007

The Mexican jail system has begun to allow conjugal visits to gay inmates, in response to a recommendation by the National Commission on Human Rights, which said that restricting gay visitation rights was discriminatory, the Associated Press reported.

The Mexican government has been pressured recently to liberalize its policies on such issues as abortion, gay marriage and prostitution.

"Mexico City authorities offered the first intimate visit to a non-heterosexual inmate of a Mexico City prison, in this case, the Saint Martha Acatitla Men's Rehabilitation Center," the commission said Sunday in a written statement, describing the measure as "an important step toward nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, for incarcerated people in particular."

In many Mexican jails, criminals are allowed to receive conjugal visits, and in many cases it is not required that the visitor be legally married to the prisoner. Special rooms are designated for such encounters, giving the inmates privacy, in keeping with the principle that the Mexican penal system should not be inhumane.

The decision was made in response to a complaint made by a person identified only as "Augustin N.," who said he wished to visit with his partner, "Ricardo N.," in Saint Martha Acatitla prison, in the eastern part of the city.

Augustin N. made a complaint to the commission, which is authorized only to make nonbinding recommendations to the authorities, bringing attention to the fact that the prison system had rejected an inmate's request due only to the fact that his partner was gay.

On Feb. 8, the Commission ruled that an act of discrimination had been committed and the authorities decided to permit the visit.

The commission indicated that it wished to bring the same changes to jails throughout Mexico City. The office charged with making the changes could not be reached for comment about when the changes might be made.

The left-leaning party that governs Mexico City has legalized gay unions and abortion in the capital of this majority Catholic nation, in addition to proposing legalization of prostitution, an infraction that is now punished by 12- to 24-hour jail sentences and small fines. (The Advocate)