A gay couple together 14 years was the first to register to get married as a new marriage law in Uruguay took effect on Monday.
Sergio Miranda and Rodrigo Borda completed the registration process in Montevideo at 7:32 AM local time.
“We’re celebrating and sharing because this law marks that we all have rights, no first- and second-class citizens, that’s what we’re celebrating today,” Miranda told reporters. “It is a very important message that Uruguay is sending to the world today.”
The couple can marry as of August 16.
The men met in 1999 during a Noche de la Nostalgia (Night of Nostalgia), Uruguay’s annual August 24 celebration in which thousands of people cram into bars to dance the night away to the hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Since that night, Miranda told Spanish news agency Efe, we have “never parted.”
Uruguay, which previously recognized gay couples with civil unions, approved the marriage law in April, making it only the second South American nation after Argentina to legalize gay nuptials.
In Mexico, two states plus Mexico City allow such unions. Brazilian courts have effectively legalized marriage for gay couples in that nation, but full legalization hinges on passage of a stalled law in Congress. Colombian lawmakers earlier this year rejected a marriage law, sending gay rights activists back to court with mixed results.
by Carlkos Santoscoy
Source – On Top Magazine
