They had planned a wedding day like Latin America has never seen.
But as Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre were being fitted for their tuxedos, an Argentine judge issued an order late on Monday blocking the continent’s first gay marriage yesterday.
Di Bello and Freyre plan to show up anyway at the civil registry for the ceremony they scheduled after another court earlier authorized the wedding, said Maria Rachid, who headed the legal team handling the couple’s lawsuit.
PHOTO: REUTERS
If they’re stopped, the couple of nearly five years will lead a protest instead of throwing their two bouquets on the street that Buenos Aires officials already had agreed to cordon off for the media spectacle the wedding was expected to draw.
“They are shocked and saddened by the news, but still have hopes that the wedding will go forth as planned,” said Rachid, president of the Argentine Federation for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals.
National Judge Marta Gomez Alsina ordered the wedding blocked until the issue can be considered by the Supreme Court, the official court Web site said. The ruling reversed a decision by city Judge Gabriela Seijas to allow the wedding to go forward.
Seijas ruled on Nov. 20 that the couple had been unconstitutionally denied a marriage license, and Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri announced he would not appeal the judge’s decision.
Di Bello and Freyre — both HIV positive — chose yesterday for their wedding because it is World AIDS Day and they want to help raise awareness about the issue that brought them together. 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.
“We are in love and excited about getting married, but we can’t really think about the wedding party, the wedding night or the honeymoon,” Freyre said. “We are activists, and how can we show our faces if we forget about the rights we are representing?”
The couple sued after being denied a marriage license last April.
The court rulings apply to their case only, though dozens of other gay couples are now trying the same legal route to win permission to wed.
A bill that would legalize gay marriage was introduced in Congress in October but it has stalled without a vote.
“This wedding serves as justice,” said Representative Juliana Di Tullio of President Cristina Fernandez’s Officialist party and co-author of the bill. “Eventually the issue will have to be dealt with.”
Only seven countries in the world allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium.
US states that permit same-sex marriage are Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
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