MEXICO, Nov 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A bill passed this week in Mexico's Senate granting same-sex couples equal social security benefits as heterosexuals now moves to the Chamber of Deputies, where advocates expect it will be voted into law.

The vote in the country's recently sworn-in upper house was unanimous.

The amendment also included motions granting gay and lesbian couples the right to a widow or widower's pension, as well as benefits for orphans of same-sex marriages.

"The fact that it's one of the first initiatives approved in the Senate gives a very good image that this is indeed a priority," Mexican LGBT+ activist Ricardo Baruch told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday. "Let's hope that for the rest of this legislature and throughout the next federal government our rights remain a priority."

President-Elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's Morena party won a majority in both the upper and lower houses of parliament in the July 1 election. Lopez Obrador became the first president-elect in history to recognize sexual diversity in his victory speech.

Morena Senator Martha Lucia Micher Camarena, who co-sponsored the bill, said Wednesday that the reforms would be the first of many such bills promoted by her party to advance LGBT+ rights in Mexico. Read more via Openly