拉美首例同性戀婚禮在阿根廷舉行
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 menare 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 saidauthorities 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，阿根廷兩名男子成爲拉丁美洲首對合法同性戀伴侶，雖然他們不得不千里迢迢跑到“世界的盡頭”舉行婚禮。
這對名叫何塞·瑪麗亞·迪·貝略和亞歷克斯·弗雷爾的同性戀維權人士於本月早些時候在布宜諾斯艾利斯申請結婚遭拒，之後他們在阿根廷火地島的首府舉行了市政婚禮。當地一位支持同性婚姻的省長批准了他們的申請，成就了拉美歷史上的首樁同性婚姻。
這對新人於本週一在位於地球最南端的城市烏斯懷亞交換了婚戒，該市比布宜諾斯艾利斯更靠近南極洲。
迪·貝略說：“我的膝蓋一直在發抖。我們可是拉美第一對同性伴侶。”
現年41歲的迪·貝略是阿根廷紅十字會的一名行政管理人員。他在一次艾滋病防治意識研討會上與弗雷爾結識。39歲的弗雷爾是布宜諾斯艾利斯艾滋病基金會的執行理事，他和迪·貝略都是HIV病毒感染者。
在當天的室內婚禮上，“兩位新郎”身穿運動服上裝，沒有打領帶，脖子上掛着紅絲帶，表現出與其他HIV病毒感染者團結在一起的決心。
阿根廷憲法未對同性婚姻作出明確規定，從而把這個難題留給了省市級官員。這對同性戀新人曾想在阿根廷首都結婚，但該市官員出爾反爾，稱他們的婚姻有悖司法判決。
迪·貝略稱，烏斯懷亞當地政府起初也不予批准，但在得到火地島政府的支持後，他們終於如願以償。
在阿根廷以及大多數拉美國家，很多人對同性婚姻仍持反對態度，尤其是羅馬天主教會。
但在烏拉圭、布宜諾斯艾利斯、墨西哥城，以及墨西哥和巴西的一些州，同性民事結合已經合法化。同性婚姻一般還附帶一些特有的權利，如收養孩子、繼承財產以及使伴侶獲得市民身份等。
目前全球有七個國家允許同性婚姻，分別是加拿大、西班牙、南非、瑞典、挪威、荷蘭和比利時。
Vocabulary:
the ends of the Earth：天涯海角
thwart：to oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose（反對，阻礙）
drape：to hang, fall, or become arranged in folds, as drapery（懸掛，裝飾）
