Uruguay: Gay couple become the first to be granted civil union license

Back in December, Uruguay made history when it became the first country in Latin America to adopt a national civil union law that included heterosexual as well as same-sex partners (civil unions and same-sex partnership rights have been recognized in cities and regions of other Latin American countries but - until Uruguay - not on a national scale).

In what is turning out to be a tremendous day for same-sex partnership rights in the region (see previous post), AFP is reporting that 68-year old theater director Juan Carlos Moretti and his partner of fourteen years, 38-year old Adrián Figuera, became the first Uruguayan couple to be granted a civil union license.

The civil court ceremony, presided earlier today by Judge Estrella Pérez Azziz, was said to be small in attendance and limited to close friends and relatives. It also came three months after the law was officially adopted.

The law grants same-sex couples and unmarried heterosexual couples certain rights pertaining to joint patrimony, the right to inherit each others belongings, access to pension payments in the case of the death of one of the partners and access to social security benefits. To apply, couples must demonstrate that they have had an uninterrupted relationship for at least five years.