Mexican Gay Fathers Of Expelled Student Say They Will Make Public Push For LGBT-Rights Laws

Three days into one 2-year-old's education at the Hill Institute, a bicultural private school in the Mexican city of Monterrey, one of her two fathers, Alex, was called to the office of the school's director, Patricia Durán and told his daughter would be expelled for having two gay fathers. Alex and his husband Pepe, who married in Mexico City in 2011 and settled in Nuevo Laredo in part so that their daughter could attend the nearby Monterrey school, took what they see as a clear case of discrimination to the Mexican media. Now, they say they hope to use publicity from the incident to make a public push for LGBT-rights laws in their border state of Nuevo León.

SDP Noticias reports that Alex and Pepe had initially hoped for no more than to expose the Institute's discrimination. But having received expressions of support from media and other parents at the school, they wanted to extend their complaint into a public push for laws which recognize LGBT rights to marriage and adoption and protect the rights of the children of same-sex couples. They have met with activists from Nuevo León Incluyente, a group which pushes for the legalization of gay marriage in the state. This October 10, they will hold a round-table on local television with the state's congressmen and representatives from the public education secretariat and human rights groups to discuss the current lack of LGBT-rights laws in the state. The couple says they aim to establish equality for gay couples in their state, adding, "We want a normal life for our daughter."

Alex and Pepe met six years ago in Florida, where they were attending the Art Institute of Miami. Their daughter was born to a surrogate mother, with Alex as the donor, making him Alejandra's biological father. After she was born in August 2011, the couple decided to travel to the Mexican capital to get married, as in Monterrey gay marriages are not recognized. In October 2012 they were married and returned to Nuevo Laredo shortly thereafter.

Alex says he was told by Durán that because the owners of the school were homophobic and did not like for gay parents to present themselves on campus, Alejandra would no longer be able to attend the Institute. Afterward, Alex and his husband Pepe, Alex says that Durán offered to keep Alejandra as a student under one condition: that he and Pepe sign a letter in which they agree not to present themselves as a family. Milenio Monterrey, which has obtained a copy of the letter, reports that that would have meant he could only attend school events by himself, abstain from commenting to other parents about the nature of their relationship, refrain from attending Mother's Day events at the school on May 10, absolute discretion and promise that his husband never turn up at the Institute's grounds. "Pepe had to be completely absent from the academic life of our daughter and basically, she wanted me to act like a single father, which I am not," Alex told Milenio.

RELATED: Mexican Student Expelled For Having Gay Dads From Prestigious Hills Institute