Gay couple tie knot in first Mexico City civil unions
Pastor Dale Morgan
Gay couple tie knot in first Mexico City civil unions*
By Gunther Hamm
Reuters
Friday, March 16, 2007; 8:18 PM
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two gay lawyers celebrated a civil union in
Mexico City on Friday, becoming the first legally recognized homosexual
couple in the traditionally macho capital of one of the world's most
Catholic countries.
Dressed in somber suits, Alejandro Diaz and Rafael Ramirez tied the knot
in a short ceremony held in a city council building, the first since the
city approved a law permitting civil unions in November.
After signing papers and listening to a short speech from a local
councilor, Diaz, 27, said "Married." Ramirez, 31, said "My husband."
They hugged but declined to kiss.
"The era of plurality and diversity is permeating Mexico City," Julio
Cesar Moreno, the local councilor who oversaw the ceremony, told dozens
of wellwishers and journalists.
Throughout the day, around 10 gay couples exchanged vows in the city.
In Iztapalapa, one of Mexico City's poorest neighborhoods, journalist
Antonio Medina, 38, was united with Jorge Cerpa, 31, a bank employee.
The two kissed and raised their hands triumphantly after the open-air
ceremony.
A man wearing felt angel wings then handed them flowers to the strains
of a small string orchestra.
Homosexuality has long been frowned on in Mexico and in most of the
country, boy-meets-girl soap operas help mold traditional notions of love.
However, it is now not uncommon to see same-sex couples holding hands in
increasingly liberal Mexico City, although assaults on gays remain common.
'HITLERIAN'
Civil unions allow any two people, gay or otherwise, to form a
partnership protecting property, pension and inheritance rights. The
country's first civil union of a gay couple took place in the northern
border state of Coahuila in January.
Civil unions fail to give all the legal rights of marriage, most notably
the right to adopt children.
With a majority in the municipal assembly and control of the mayor's
post, leftists in Mexico City are briskly passing laws liberalizing gay
rights, abortion and euthanasia.
Catholic Church officials have called the moves "Hitlerian" and warned
believers not to vote for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution.
"A Catholic who votes for one of these (politicians) has a huge lack of
values," said Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Mexico City archdiocese,
the world's largest.
Medina said the church should not get involved in people's private lives.
"We respect people's beliefs but we believe the church should not climb
into anybody's bed," he said to cheers from a crowd of guests and local
dignitaries, some waving rainbow flags often used as a symbol of gay pride.
Mexico's Catholic Church leads the world's second-biggest Catholic
population after Brazil. Some 90 percent of the country's 107 million
people call themselves Catholic and conservative evangelical groups are
also winning adherents.