Lesbians form Mexico's first gay civil union

MONTERREY, Mexico, Feb 2 (Reuters) Two Mexican lesbians have formed the country's first gay civil union, an official of the northern Coahuila state said.

Dressed in black jackets, Karla Lopez and Karina Almaguer, both 29, became Mexico's first gay ''civil partners'' on Wednesday, in Coahuila, a mining and ranching region bordering Texas.

The law recognising gay unions, which was passed on January 11, gives homosexual couples similar rights to heterosexual marriages.

''The most important part is the right over property,'' said Armando Luna, deputy legal director of the Coahuila state government yesterday.

''They can decide if the worldly goods that they have or acquire remain as personal property or if they are added to the civil partnership,'' Luna said.

Coahuila's civil union law also grants social security benefits to both members of a homosexual union, an important demand of gay campaigners.

Mexico City legislators backed a similar law in November which comes into effect in March.

Coahuila, west of the city of Monterrey, once was part of a larger state that included Texas, which was part of Mexico before the United States annexed much of what is now the US Southwest in the mid-19th century.

Reuters SBA VP0518