They had to travel to the ends of the Earth to do it, but two Argentine men succeeded in becoming Latin America's first same-sex married couple。
After their first attempt to wed earlier this month in Buenos Aires was thwarted,gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre took their civil ceremony to the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province,where a sympathetic governor backed their bid to make Latin American history。
The couple exchanged rings on Monday in Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world, closer to Antarctica than Buenos Aires。
"My knees didn't stop shaking," said Di Bello. "We are the first gay couple in Latin America to marry."
DiBello, 41, an executive at the Argentine Red Cross, met Freyre, 39,executive director of the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation, at an HIV awareness conference. Both men are HIV-positive。
At the indoor civil ceremony, the grooms wore sport coats without ties, and had large red ribbons draped around their necks in solidarity with other people living with HIV。
Argentina's Constitution is silent on whether marriage must be between a man and awoman, effectively leaving the matter to provincial and city officials.The men tried to get married in Argentina's capital but city officials,who had earlier said the ceremony could proceed, refused to wed themciting conflicting judicial rulings。
DiBello said authorities initially declined to authorize the marriage,but went ahead after the couple received backing from Tierra del Fuegoprovince。
Many in Argentina and throughout Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, particularly the Roman Catholic Church。
Butsame-sex civil unions have been legalized in Uruguay, Buenos Aires,Mexico City and some states in Mexico and Brazil. Marriage generallycarries more exclusive rights such as adopting children, inheritingwealth and enabling a partner to gain citizenship。
Only seven countries in the world allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium。
日前,阿根廷兩名男子成為拉丁美洲首對(duì)合法同性戀伴侶,雖然他們不得不千里迢迢跑到“世界的盡頭”舉行婚禮。
這對(duì)名叫何塞·瑪麗亞·迪·貝略和亞歷克斯·弗雷爾的同性戀維權(quán)人士于本月早些時(shí)候在布宜諾斯艾利斯申請(qǐng)結(jié)婚遭拒,之后他們?cè)诎⒏⒒鸬貚u的首府舉行了市政婚禮。當(dāng)?shù)匾晃恢С滞曰橐龅氖¢L(zhǎng)批準(zhǔn)了他們的申請(qǐng),成就了拉美歷史上的首樁同性婚姻。
這對(duì)新人于本周一在位于地球最南端的城市烏斯懷亞交換了婚戒,該市比布宜諾斯艾利斯更靠近南極洲。
迪·貝略說:“我的膝蓋一直在發(fā)抖。我們可是拉美第一對(duì)同性伴侶。”
現(xiàn)年41歲的迪·貝略是阿根廷紅十字會(huì)的一名行政管理人員。他在一次艾滋病防治意識(shí)研討會(huì)上與弗雷爾結(jié)識(shí)。39歲的弗雷爾是布宜諾斯艾利斯艾滋病基金會(huì)的執(zhí)行理事,他和迪·貝略都是HIV病毒感染者。
在當(dāng)天的室內(nèi)婚禮上,“兩位新郎”身穿運(yùn)動(dòng)服上裝,沒有打領(lǐng)帶,脖子上掛著紅絲帶,表現(xiàn)出與其他HIV病毒感染者團(tuán)結(jié)在一起的決心。
阿根廷憲法未對(duì)同性婚姻作出明確規(guī)定,從而把這個(gè)難題留給了省市級(jí)官員。這對(duì)同性戀新人曾想在阿根廷首都結(jié)婚,但該市官員出爾反爾,稱他們的婚姻有悖司法判決。
迪·貝略稱,烏斯懷亞當(dāng)?shù)卣鸪跻膊挥枧鷾?zhǔn),但在得到火地島政府的支持后,他們終于如愿以償。
在阿根廷以及大多數(shù)拉美國(guó)家,很多人對(duì)同性婚姻仍持反對(duì)態(tài)度,尤其是羅馬天主教會(huì)。
但在烏拉圭、布宜諾斯艾利斯、墨西哥城,以及墨西哥和巴西的一些州,同性民事結(jié)合已經(jīng)合法化。同性婚姻一般還附帶一些特有的權(quán)利,如收養(yǎng)孩子、繼承財(cái)產(chǎn)以及使伴侶獲得市民身份等。
目前全球有七個(gè)國(guó)家允許同性婚姻,分別是加拿大、西班牙、南非、瑞典、挪威、荷蘭和比利時(shí)。