Related News
Argentine couple holds first Latin America gay wedding
Source: Agencies |
December 29, 2009, Tuesday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
TWO Argentine men wed in Latin America's first same-sex marriage yesterday, helped by a provincial governor who ignored a court ruling that blocked their marriage plans earlier this month.
Alex Freyre, 39, and Jose Maria Di Bello, 41, were married in the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia in a ceremony with a small group of onlookers and friends.
"We're extremely excited and happy about what this means for all gays and lesbians in Argentina," DiBello said.
The two men, who are HIV positive, were granted a marriage license by a municipal judge in Buenos Aires in November that allowed the couple to wed in Argentina's capital, despite a national policy of defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
They planned to marry Dec. 1 for World Aids Day but a federal judge overturned the wedding decision and ordered it suspended.
The couple then traveled to Ushuaia in the province of Tierra del Fuego, where they were given residency by the governor, who upheld the initial ruling allowing them to marry, said Claudio Morgado, president of the Argentine gay rights group National Institute Against Discrimination, Zenophia and Racism.
"The first same-sex marriage in Latin America and the Caribbean finally took place," said Morgado, a witness to the wedding. "This has been possible thanks to a long fight for our rights."
Argentina became the first Latin American country to allow civil unions by same-sex couples in 2002.
Civil unions in Buenos Aires and other Argentine cities grant same-sex couples some legal marital rights, but not others, such as the right to adopt. Elsewhere in Latin America, same-sex civil unions are allowed in Uruguay and Mexico City.
Last week, Mexico City legislators approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.
"We weren't going to give up until we married," Freyre said.
Alex Freyre, 39, and Jose Maria Di Bello, 41, were married in the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia in a ceremony with a small group of onlookers and friends.
"We're extremely excited and happy about what this means for all gays and lesbians in Argentina," DiBello said.
The two men, who are HIV positive, were granted a marriage license by a municipal judge in Buenos Aires in November that allowed the couple to wed in Argentina's capital, despite a national policy of defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
They planned to marry Dec. 1 for World Aids Day but a federal judge overturned the wedding decision and ordered it suspended.
The couple then traveled to Ushuaia in the province of Tierra del Fuego, where they were given residency by the governor, who upheld the initial ruling allowing them to marry, said Claudio Morgado, president of the Argentine gay rights group National Institute Against Discrimination, Zenophia and Racism.
"The first same-sex marriage in Latin America and the Caribbean finally took place," said Morgado, a witness to the wedding. "This has been possible thanks to a long fight for our rights."
Argentina became the first Latin American country to allow civil unions by same-sex couples in 2002.
Civil unions in Buenos Aires and other Argentine cities grant same-sex couples some legal marital rights, but not others, such as the right to adopt. Elsewhere in Latin America, same-sex civil unions are allowed in Uruguay and Mexico City.
Last week, Mexico City legislators approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.
"We weren't going to give up until we married," Freyre said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
