A gay couple
showed up before dawn to be the first to register under Uruguay's new
"marriage equality law," but another pair was married first Monday
after getting special permission for a rushed wedding at a hospital where one
of the men is dying of cancer.
"It was very
emotional," said Luisa Salaberry, the civil registry worker who officiated
at the hospital wedding.
She said that the
ceremony was intimate and that the government waived the usual 10 days of
bureaucracy because the patient's cancer was so advanced.
"They had
been waiting for the law to take effect so that they could get married,"
said Salaberry, who did not identify the couple.
Civil Registry
Director Adolfo Orellano confirmed that the hospital ceremony was Uruguay's
first same-sex wedding.
Earlier Monday,
TV producer Sergio Miranda and artist Rodrigo Borda, partners for 14 years,
were the first to register.
"This is an
historic day for us and for the country," Borda said. "No longer will
there be first- and second-class citizens. This will be seen in many countries
where this option still isn't possible, and hopefully help people in those
places live more freely."
Uruguay is the
third country in the Americas, after Canada and Argentina, to legalize gay
marriage. President Jose Mujica's government also decriminalized abortion and
expects senate approval soon for a government-managed marijuana industry.
"This will
help so that many people can say, 'I went with my boyfriend to walk in the
park,' and not have to invent that they have a girlfriend or something like
that," Miranda said.
"There are
people who constantly live a double-life," Borda added. "That's why
we've made this so visible, to show that it can be done. We're in a country
that has a very open mind right now — you can see it in the people and in the
street."
Borda said U.S.
Ambassador to Uruguay Julissa Reynoso is a friend who has been invited to the
couple's wedding.
The U.S. Embassy
in Buenos Aires on Monday announced an "LGBT Go" campaign, inviting
people to apply for up to 60,000 pesos (about $11,000) in grants for projects
that protect and strengthen gay rights in Argentina. (bigstory.ap.org, 5/8/2013)
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