拉美首例同性恋婚礼在阿根廷举行

They had to travel to the ends of the Earth to do it, but two Argentine men succeeded in becoming Latin America's first same-sex married couple.

After their first attempt to wed earlier this month in Buenos Aires was thwarted, gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre took their civil ceremony to the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, where a sympathetic governor backed their bid to make Latin American history.

The couple exchanged rings on Monday in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, closer to Antarctica than Buenos Aires.

"My knees didn't stop shaking," said Di Bello. "We are the first gay couple in Latin America to marry."

Di Bello, 41, an executive at the Argentine Red Cross, met Freyre, 39, executive director of the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation, at an HIV awareness conference. Both men are HIV-positive.

At the indoor civil ceremony, the grooms wore sport coats without ties, and had large red ribbons draped around their necks in solidarity with other people living with HIV.

Argentina's Constitution is silent on whether marriage must be between a man and a woman, effectively leaving the matter to provincial and city officials. The men tried to get married in Argentina's capital but city officials, who had earlier said the ceremony could proceed, refused to wed them citing conflicting judicial rulings.

Di Bello said authorities initially declined to authorize the marriage, but went ahead after the couple received backing from Tierra del Fuego province.

Many in Argentina and throughout Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, particularly the Roman Catholic Church.

But same-sex civil unions have been legalized in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and some states in Mexico and Brazil. Marriage generally carries more exclusive rights such as adopting children, inheriting wealth and enabling a partner to gain citizenship.

Only seven countries in the world allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium.

日前，阿根廷两名男子成为拉丁美洲首对合法同性恋伴侣，虽然他们不得不千里迢迢跑到“世界的尽头”举行婚礼。

这对名叫何塞·玛丽亚·迪·贝略和亚历克斯·弗雷尔的同性恋维权人士于本月早些时候在布宜诺斯艾利斯申请结婚遭拒，之后他们在阿根廷火地岛的首府举行了市政婚礼。当地一位支持同性婚姻的省长批准了他们的申请，成就了拉美历史上的首桩同性婚姻。

这对新人于本周一在位于地球最南端的城市乌斯怀亚交换了婚戒，该市比布宜诺斯艾利斯更靠近南极洲。

迪·贝略说：“我的膝盖一直在发抖。我们可是拉美第一对同性伴侣。”

现年41岁的迪·贝略是阿根廷红十字会的一名行政管理人员。他在一次艾滋病防治意识研讨会上与弗雷尔结识。39岁的弗雷尔是布宜诺斯艾利斯艾滋病基金会的执行理事，他和迪·贝略都是HIV病毒感染者。

在当天的室内婚礼上，“两位新郎”身穿运动服上装，没有打领带，脖子上挂着红丝带，表现出与其他HIV病毒感染者团结在一起的决心。

阿根廷宪法未对同性婚姻作出明确规定，从而把这个难题留给了省市级官员。这对同性恋新人曾想在阿根廷首都结婚，但该市官员出尔反尔，称他们的婚姻有悖司法判决。

迪·贝略称，乌斯怀亚当地政府起初也不予批准，但在得到火地岛政府的支持后，他们终于如愿以偿。

在阿根廷以及大多数拉美国家，很多人对同性婚姻仍持反对态度，尤其是罗马天主教会。

但在乌拉圭、布宜诺斯艾利斯、墨西哥城，以及墨西哥和巴西的一些州，同性民事结合已经合法化。同性婚姻一般还附带一些特有的权利，如收养孩子、继承财产以及使伴侣获得市民身份等。

目前全球有七个国家允许同性婚姻，分别是加拿大、西班牙、南非、瑞典、挪威、荷兰和比利时。

Vocabulary:

the ends of the Earth：天涯海角

thwart：to oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose（反对，阻碍）

drape：to hang, fall, or become arranged in folds, as drapery（悬挂，装饰）