The Penal Code of Tamaulipas historically regulated same-sex relationships within provisions addressing the “corruption of minors,” treating them as conduct considered to affect the development of children, adolescents, and legally defined “incapable persons.” Article 192 listed homosexuality; together with acts such as public indecent exposure, compelled begging, drunkenness, drug use, or prostitution; as an act classified as “corruption of minors.” Article 193 set prison sentences of five to ten years and fines ranging from four hundred to one thousand times the daily value of the Unit of Measurement and Update (Unidad de Medida y Actualización, UMA). It further provided for increased penalties of six to twelve years of imprisonment and higher fines if the conduct was repeated. The article also предусмотрed penalties of eight to sixteen years of imprisonment and additional fines if a minor was considered to have acquired “habits of homosexuality” through repeated conduct. In 2024, following a constitutional challenge filed by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice declared both articles as unconstitutional in 2025 on the grounds that they were discriminatory. A comparable provision in the Federal Penal Code had been repealed in 1998. increased penalties of eight to sixteen years of imprisonment and additional fines if a minor was considered to have acquired “habits of homosexuality” through repeated conduct.

Tamaulipas has Article 193 of its Penal Code which criminalises "corruption of minors" with imprisonment. One of the "corrupt habits" is homosexuality. It originated in 1986 and remains unrepealed even after Mexico repealed its federal law in 1998.