Same-sex couples began marrying in Argentina on July 30, nine days after
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed the bill legalizing
same-sex marriage. It passed the Senate on July 15 by a vote of 33 to 27.
A gay couple in the northern province of Santiago del Estero — José Luis
Navarro and Miguel Ángel Calefato — were the first to marry, quickly
followed by several other couples around the country.
Navarro and Calefato said they will accept the Mexico City government’s
all-expenses-paid honeymoon offer for the first married Argentine gay
couple. Mexico City is the only other place in Latin America where
same-sex marriage is legal.
Gay and lesbian couples also can marry in Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Connecticut,
Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
The New York Times reported July 27 that more than 3,000 same-sex couples
have married in South Africa since it became legal in 2006. The paper said
that in half of the marriages, one or both partners were foreigners.
By Rex Wockner
