REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian
A week after their nation became the first Latin-American country to legalize same-sex weddings, Jose Luis Navarro and Miguel Angel Calefato became the first pair to tie the knot.
The AP reports that Navarro, 54, and Calefato, 65, held the inaugural marriage early on Thursday morning in Santiago del Estero. The landmark change was visually marked by a civil registry official replacing “man and woman” with “contracting parties” on the couple’s marriage license. (See photos of the history of the gay-rights movement.)
CNN covered President Cristina Fernandez’s decision to sign the gay marriage law on July 21. In lieu of heavy opposition from the Vatican, both Congressional houses backed Fernandez’s signature.
Among other possible Latin-American nations to follow suit are Uruguay, which has same-sex civil unions granting certain rights, and Colombia, which has already given same-sex pairs the ability to inheritance and shared health-insurance plans. While Mexico has yet to legalize gay marriage, its capital, Mexico City, has taken that step. (See a brief history of international gay marriage.)