First South American gay marriage in Uruguay

While Brazil’s president backs a proposal granting equal rights to gays seeking visas, the first South American gay marriage took place yesterday in Uruguay. As the AFP reported:

Judge Estrella Perez officiated the civil union between Adrian Figuera, 38, and actor and theater director Juan Carlos Moretti, 67, in a courtroom before a small group of friends and family, as witnessed by an AFP reporter.

Moretti later told AFP that after living together for 14 years, he and Figuera thought their marriage was "a matter of justice and a step forward for Uruguayan society."

The head of LGBT affairs for the Mercosur bloc said that allowing gay civil unions is a positive step yet noted that “this doesn’t mean that homophobia and discrimination will suddenly disappear.”

Cities like Mexico City have laws on gay civil unions though the Uruguayan law is the first national law on that issue.

Sources (English)- AFP, Yahoo! News, The Latin Americanist,

Sources (Spanish)- Observa

Image- Towleroad