Mexico's president proposes legalizing gay marriage
Speaking at an event on the International Day Against Homophobia, Pena Nieto said he signed initiatives that would seek to add same-sex marriage provisions to Mexico's constitution and the national civil code.
Pena Nieto said he would seek to reform Article 4 of the constitution to clearly reflect the Supreme Court opinion "to recognize as a human right that people can enter into marriage without any kind of discrimination."
"That is, for marriages to be carried out without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or nationality, of disabilities, of social or health conditions, of religion, of gender or sexual preference," he added.
The decision is a significant one, especially in Catholic-heavy Mexico.
"Mexico is home to the world's second largest Catholic population and a conservative episcopacy," Andrew Chesnut, the Bishoph Walter Sullivan Chair of Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Business Insider.
"Coming on the heels of the legalization of gay marriage in Colombia, one of the world's most devoutly Catholic nations, this puts the waning power of the Church's influence on social and political matters in high relief."
The profile page of Pena Nieto's Twitter account was turned rainbow-colored Tuesday as he made the announcement.
Last June, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for Mexican states to ban same-sex couples from getting married. But the decision did not specifically overturn state laws, meaning that couples have had to sue in court in each particular case.