The marriage of Joey Hateley and Hugo
Vera is Ecuador's first legal gay and transgender union, the Spanish
news agency EFE reported.
The two men married in a civil ceremony
in Quito on Friday.
The pair were able to marry in the
country that bans same-sex unions because Hateley transitioned from a
woman to a man, but is legally considered a female.
The British-born Hateley, 35, is the
artistic director of TransAction Theatre Company. Vera is a
twenty-three-year-old Ecuadorian.
Vera said their marriage was not only
an expression of love and commitment but also a “protest for the
rights of gender identity.”
The ceremony was officiated by
Councilor Norman Wray, the president of the Metropolitan Commission
on Gender (Comision Metropolitana de Genero).
Their wedding “opens a perspective of
non-discrimination, to achieve a society more tolerant and respectful
of sexual diversity and the fight against homophobia,” Wray said.
Ana Almeida of the transgender group
Proyecto
Transgenero called the wedding unique because it is “the first
gay marriage and the first transgender wedding, at the same time.”