Mexicali, Mexico — It would have been the first City Hall wedding for a same-sex couple in Baja California — a civil ceremony carried out under an order from Mexico’s Supreme Court.

But last Saturday afternoon, the doors to the large, box-like municipal building were closed, and the wedding was suspended. For the third time, officials turned down Victor Manuel Aguirre and Fernando Urias, two hair stylists who have been attempting legal marriage in Mexicali since June 2013.

Saturday’s ceremony had been on the civil registry’s calendar for weeks. Hours after a spokesman for the city had confirmed early in the day that the wedding would take place, a top city official said the event had been canceled due to a complaint that the two men "suffer from madness."

The accuser was Angelica Guadalupe Gonzalez Sanchez, president of the "Coalition of Baja California Families," who with her husband gives mandatory pre-marital talks to couples preparing for civil wedding ceremonies at Mexicali City Hall.

In her complaint, Gonzalez said the pair had been "aggressive and impertinent" on Thursday after she refused to certify their attendance in her talk, and her husband told them that the sessions were intended for heterosexual couples.

The cancellation came nearly two months after officials with Mexicali’s civil registry refused to perform a wedding ceremony for the couple, citing unresolved paperwork issues.

Victor Manuel Aguirre and Fernando Urias, two hairstylists who have been attempting marriage in Mexicali since 2013.

On Saturday, civil registry officials were nowhere to be seen as Aguirre, 43, and Urias, 37, arrived at City Hall with family and friends. There to greet them were a few dozen opponents of same-sex marriage, Catholics as well as evangelical Christians. Many wore blue medical masks that read "only a man and a woman" and made signs that they would not be making statements.

One protester, David Mesa, a Christian pastor, said that he was morally and legally opposed to same-sex marriage, "because of what this will mean for the future, such as the adoption of infants, that's our motive and nothing else."

A top municipal official, Jose Felix Arango Perez, told reporters early Saturday afternoon that "on our part, there were no obstacles. … However, the submission of the complaint by this individual obligates us to suspend the legal ceremony." He said it is now up to the state’s family court system to resolve the issue.

But a member of the Mexicali City Council, Abraham Medina, said, "I think it’s nothing more than an excuse... They’re just doing this to buy time. I don’t know why they are making these people go through this torment."

Jose Luis Marquez, the couple’s attorney, directly accused Mexicali Mayor Jaime Diaz of working behind the scenes to prevent the marriage from taking place. He said he is preparing legal action against those responsible.

Aguirre and Urias said they were undeterred by the roadblock.

"Of course, we are going to continue to try," Aguirre said as he stood outside City Hall.

"One day, their tricks will end, and we will never get tired of trying," said Urias.

Same-sex marriages have been performed in Mexico since 2010, when Mexico City revised its civil code, and a state legislature followed suit last year in the state of Coahuila. But in most of Mexico, individual couples have been waging battles through the court system.

The first court battles were won in 2012 by couples from Oaxaca after receiving the backing of Mexico’s Supreme Court.

Marquez, the attorney for the couple, said another thirteen same-sex couples in Mexicali are going through the same legal route as his clients, asking the courts to uphold their right to marry.