Murphy Woodhouse/KJZZ

Representative Yumiko Palomares reads her reform measure in early August. It would allow same-sex couples to marry like other Sonorans.

In early August, a bill was introduced in the Sonoran congress that would allow for same-sex marriage in the state.

That legislation would change the state’s family code, which currently defines marriage as the “legitimate union of a man and a woman,” and states that same-sex unions are “legally impossible.”

But since being sent to the state congress’ human rights and justice and gender equity committees, it has not advanced. In 2015, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that such state prohibitions are unconstitutional.

“This is just a delay tactic for (legislators),” said Martha Lucia Serna, an attorney who has helped same-sex couples marry in the state through court orders enabled by the 2015 court decision. “But they really have to do it, whether they want to or not.”

While state law prohibits same-sex marriage, several dozen Sonoran couples have married through federal court orders called amparos.