Tens of Thousands Protest Gay Marriage in Mexico

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Mexico Saturday to protest a proposal to legalize gay marriage nationwide.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has pushed legalization for same-sex marriage since May.

At least 215,000 people took part in Saturday's demonstration, one of the largest protest marches in Mexico in recent years.

Those marching were dressed in white and carried banners that warned against same-sex marriage and demanded parents' rights to control sex education in school.

Others carried signs saying "an adopted child deserves a mother and a father."

"We are not against anybody's (sexual) identity," said Abraham Ledesma, an evangelical pastor who traveled from the border city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, to take part in Saturday's march. "What we are against is the government imposition ... of trying to impose gender ideology in education. As religious leaders, we don't want to be forced to marry same-sex couples and call it marriage."

A smaller crowd of same-sex marriage supporters were also there for the march.

"They may be the majority," Felipe Quiroz, a gay activist and school teacher, said. "But just because they are the majority, doesn't mean they can take rights away from minorities. That would lead us to a dark period, to fundamentalism."

So far, gay marriage is only legal in Mexico City and the northern state of Coahuila and Quintana Roo state on the Caribbean coast.