????BEIJING,?Dec. 29 (Xinhuanet)?– Two slim, dark-haired Argentine men traveled?to a remote seaside fishing village at the end of South America to tie the knot on Monday, becoming the first same-sex marriage in Latin America, according to?media reports Tuesday.
????Gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre were married in Ushuaia, the capital of Argentina\’s Tierra del Fuego state, exchanging rings at an informal ceremony witnessed by state and federal officials.
????The couple\’s wished to marry in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires but were thwarted by city officials citing conflicting judicial rulings.
????Di Bello, an executive at the Argentine Red Cross, met Freyre, 39, executive director of the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation, at an HIV awareness conference. Both are HIV-positive.
????At Monday\’s indoor civil ceremony, 41-year-old Di Bello, an executive at the Argentine Red Cross and Freyre 39, executive director of the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation, wore sport coats without ties and had large red ribbons draped around their necks in solidarity with other people living with HIV.
????They met at an HIV awareness conference and both are HIV-positive.
????Argentina\’s Constitution is silent on whether marriage must be between a man and a woman. A Supreme Court justice said on Monday that the high court would likely rule on issues of same-sex marriage sometime in 2010, but could defer to Congress if legislation moves forward.
????Many in Argentina and throughout Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, particularly the Roman Catholic Church,?but same-sex civil unions have been legalized in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and some states in Mexico and Brazil.
????An official representing the federal government\’s antidiscrimination agency attended the wedding. Claudio Morgado called Monday\’s marriage \”historic.\”
????Only seven countries in the world allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. U.S. states that permit same-sex marriage are Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
(Agencies)
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