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Valentine wedding for gays
15/02/2001 09:52 - (SA)
Mexico City - About 200 gay couples tied the knot on Wednesday at a Valentine's Day ceremony in the heart of macho Mexico.
"Love is what gathers us here today," participants said in a
declaration adopted at the symbolic ceremony in front of Mexico
City's art deco Bellas Artes concert hall.
The couples, many holding red roses, were showered with rice as
they sealed their union with a kiss and a document duly signed by a public notary, and witnessed by some 3 000 people who thronged the plaza.
The document has no legal value, but the ceremony was a
demonstration of support for a proposed bill that would recognise
gay unions.
"We want to be able to lead our lives in peace, with the same
rights as everybody else," said Griselda, 45, a transvestite who
said she worked as a prostitute.
Cheers and catcalls arose from the crowd as couples hugged and
kissed on a stage festooned with balloons and inflated condoms in
the rainbow colours that symbolise the gay community.
One man wore a bishop's headwear bearing a swastika, while several speakers blasted the Roman Catholic Church, which had sharply condemned the event.
"We are fighting to defend human and civic rights, against
reactionary, homophobic and macho groups, and against some leaders of the Catholic Church," said Armando Quintero, of the centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution.
Mexican Cardinal Juan Sandoval recently described gay weddings as
an "aberration".
Hugo Ramirez, 27, an officer with an anti-riot squad, said he did
not want to tie the knot, but came to the ceremony with his
boyfriend "to denounce sexual harassment by police commanders". - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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