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.