Six months after a gay marriage law
took effect in Mexico City, 398 gay and lesbian couples have married
in the nation's capital.
The figures were released Monday by the
city government.
Two-hundred-eleven of the couples were
male and one-hundred-eighty-seven were female.
Most of the couples were between 30 and
40 years of age, but four were in the age group of 71-90.
Lawmakers approved the law that gives
gay couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage,
including the right to adopt children, in December. Previously, the
city government recognized gay couples with civil unions, but gay
adoption was banned. The law went into effect on March 4.
The conservative federal government
challenged the law, but the
nation's Supreme Court declared the law constitutional and ruled
that all Mexican states must recognize the gay marriages of the
nation's capital.
Following in the footsteps of Mexico
City was Argentina, the first Latin American country to legalize the
institution, and
its first gay couple married on Friday, July 30 in provincial
Santiago del Estero.
Last week, the government said 103 gay
couples – seventy-two male and thirty-one female – have tied the
knot during the law's first 30 days.
The
Roman Catholic Church has harshly criticized the movement to legalize
gay marriage in the region.