A civil court in Argentina has cancelled its original permit to hold the first gay wedding in Latin America just a day before the controversial ceremony, local media reported on Tuesday.
In mid-November, 41-year-old Jose Maria Di Bello and 39-year-old Alex Freyre, both Argentineans, obtained an official permit to get married from judge Gabriela Seijas, media reports said.
Both men are HIV-infected, that is why they scheduled their wedding ceremony for December 1, the International AIDS Awareness Day, media said.
The court's decision was condemned by the Catholic Church, but the Mayor's Office of Buenos Aires said it would not appeal against the ruling. Some 500 Argentinean same-gender couples claimed they would also apply for a permit to marry.
However, on November 30, civil judge Marta Gomez Alsina issued a decision to ban the marriage, referring to the country's civil codex, which prohibits same-gender marriages.
The Argentinean Supreme Court is now to decide whether to permit the marriage or not, as the two previous court decisions were considered contradictory, media said.
Meanwhile, the gay couple said they would arrive where the wedding was to take place and demand the marriage be registered despite the court ruling, local papers said, adding Argentinean and foreign journalists had already been invited to report on the event.
In 2002, Argentina became the first country to permit same-gender couples to join in a civil union. However, gay families were not given equal rights with officially registered civil marriage couples, in particular, they were not allowed to adopt children.
Besides Argentina, same-gender couples are also permitted to join in a civil union in Latin America's Uruguay and Mexico.
MOSCOW, December 1 (RIA Novosti)
