Argentine Couple Wed in Latin America’s First Gay Marriage

Posted on Dec 29, 2009

AP / Eduardo Di Baia

Felicitaciones: Alex Freyre, left, and his husband, Jose Maria di Bello, kiss during a news conference Tuesday in Buenos Aires. The couple are both HIV-positive and are wearing red ribbons around their necks in solidarity with others living with HIV.

After they encountered resistance in Buenos Aires earlier this month, Argentine couple Alex Freyre and Jose Maria di Bello found an alternative location for their wedding, and they sealed the deal Monday in Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost state in their country, making theirs the first same-sex marriage in Latin America.  —KA

CNN:

“As a couple, we dreamed of marrying for a long time,” Freyre told the state-run Telam news agency.

Their marriage was hailed as a victory by gay rights groups in Argentina, though it was unknown whether the legality of their marriage would face any challenges.

After a legal battle earlier this year, a court in the capital, Buenos Aires, ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage was illegal and ordered the proper authorities to grant the couple a marriage license if they applied for one.

On the eve of their December 1 wedding, however, another court filed an injunction, putting the brakes on the nuptials.

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