by Rex Wockner
International News Briefs
A gay male couple legally married in Argentina Dec. 28.
Activists Alex Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello tied the knot at a registry office in Ushuaia, capital of the far-southern province of Tierra del Fuego.
The couple had been blocked from marrying in Buenos Aires on Dec. 1 after a national judge issued a ruling that conflicted with a city judge's ruling that had authorized their marriage.
The nation's Supreme Court then promptly announced it would resolve the matter of the conflicting rulings.
In Tierra del Fuego, meanwhile, Gov. Fabiana Rios issued a decree allowing the marriage there.
She called the marriage "a breakthrough in human rights and social inclusion" and said, "We are delighted that it has happened in our province."
Federal and provincial human rights officials attended the wedding.
"Finally, the first marriage between persons of the same sex in Latin America and the Caribbean has occurred," said Claudio Morgado, president of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, who witnessed the event. "This took place after a strong activist fight by FALGBT (Argentina Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trangenders) and great work of coordination between INADI and the legal secretary of Tierra del Fuego. INADI feels that we had to join in this historic moment marking a major advance in the fight against discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders."
INADI immediately featured the wedding at the top of its official Web page.
"I am happy to have accomplished this, which for others is so easy and for us has been so difficult," Freyre told Radio 10 after the ceremony. "We promised that we were going to do the impossible to fulfill our wish, which is not (just) something of Jose Maria and Alex but rather the wish of millions of gays and lesbians."
A bill to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide is pending in Argentina's Congress and FALGBT President Maria Rachid says there are enough votes to pass it.
"There is sufficient consensus to address the law at the beginning of (2010)," she said. "The (vote) counts show we have a sufficient majority to act on it and approve it."
Buenos Aires, some other Argentine cities and the province of Rio Negro already have civil union laws for same-sex couples. Elsewhere in Latin America, similar laws are in force in Uruguay, Mexico City, the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, and the Mexican state of Coahuila, which borders Texas.
In addition to Tierra del Fuego, same-sex marriage is legal in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S. states of Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. It will become legal in March in Mexico City and Washington, D.C.
