MEXICO CITY — Two Mexican women were the first to wed in Mexico City on Thursday after the sprawling capital became a pioneer in Latin America by legalizing gay marriages.
Lol Kin Castaneda, 33, and Judith Vazquez, 45, wore matching ivory dresses as they led a multiple ceremony at the city hall in which four other gay couples, including four other lesbians, were also married.
The couple met nine years ago, when Castaneda was already an activist for gay rights and Vazquez was planning to become a nun.
"They're now a family recognized by the law, with rights and obligations," said judge Hegel Cortes, as the couple kissed each other.
Mexico City's left-leaning legislature approved gay marriage and opened the way for adoptions on December 21, provoking a wave of uproar from religious groups in the Catholic nation and conservatives including President Felipe Calderon.
The attorney general has lodged an appeal against the move at the Supreme Court and a string of states are seeking to apply measures to specifically prohibit gay marriages.
Two men were recently married in Argentina, the country's second gay marriage, after a judge approved the union ahead of possible legislation there too.
The mayor of Mexico City Marcelo Ebrard was present at Thursday's ceremony.
His leftist government has pioneered liberal legislation in the past 13 years, including the decriminalization of abortion in 2007.
With the gay marriage law Mexico City follows in the footsteps of the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, Canada and some US states.
In Latin America, civil unions for same sex couples are allowed in Uruguay, Colombia and Buenos Aires, as well as the northern Mexico state of Coahuila.
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