Pro-LGBT campaign gains ground in North America, Mexico: Canadian PM pushes for transgenders' protection

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on May 17, 2016.Reuters

The pro-LGBT campaign is gaining ground not only in the United States but also in its two biggest neighbours—Canada and Mexico.

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tabled a bill that would protect transgenders from discrimination.

In Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto has proposed to legalise same-sex marriage after the Supreme Court ruled last year that it was unconstitutional to prohibit such couples from wedding.

Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybound said the law is needed to affirm that transgenders have the right to live without discrimination, hate propaganda and hate crimes, the Associated Press reports.

Under the proposal, the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code would be updated to include gender identity and gender expression as distinguished features of the country's citizens under the legal system.

"This is a message to all Canadians that we live in a time where discrimination in any form is completely unacceptable," Wilson-Raybould said.

Similar measures have failed to pass the Parliament several times

"Everyone deserves to live free of stigma & persecution, no matter who they are or whom they love," Trudeau tweeted.

Trudeau's government has majority control in the House of Commons.

Twelve-year-old transgender female Charlie Lowthian-Rickert said, "It will protect us from hateful propaganda, assault."

The measure was introduced on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia.

Meanwhile, if the bill legalising same-sex marriage is approved, Mexico will be the fifth country in Latin America to have such law.

The proposal was criticised by church officials in Mexico, according to the Associated Press.

Pena Neto said he wants to change the constitution to reflect the Supreme Court decision "to recognise as a human right that people can enter into marriage without any kind of discrimination."

The Rev. Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico City, urged lawmakers not to pass the measure.

"Marriage has some very concrete aims which, of course, two people of the same sex do not fulfill," he said, referring to procreation.

Valdemar said the president's proposal is a distraction in Mexico where "there are more serious issues that should be attended to" such as violence and corruption.

An estimated 80 percent of Mexicans are Catholic.