ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how the Catholic Church, as a significant member of the contemporary Christian right, continues to attempt to influence the governments of Mexico, Canada, and the US at federal, state, and provincial levels to discriminate against people who openly identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT). Though the Catholic Church has been reluctant to join with other Christians who have voiced concerns about the death penalty and nuclear weapons, it has not had such qualms when it comes to the denial of LGBT rights. As organized LGBT groups and their allies in all three countries have lobbied for the right to marry, to adopt children, and for laws against hate crimes based on homophobia, North American governments at various levels have gradually begun to change legislation. In the last few years, Cancun has become the number one spot for the LGBT tourism from the United States and Canada to Mexico, supplanting Puerto Vallarta.
