Marriage equality is a reality in Mexico City

[Photo credit: Photo used by permission and courtesy of Memo de León who Tweets at zeiashtar and posted some great photos at his Twitpic account].

Wedding bells have been ringing in Mexico City since Thursday when the first law allowing same-sex couples to marry in any Latin American country went into effect. That day, I was glued to my #MatrimonioDF Twitter feed for all things 'marriage' and 'gay and 'Mexico' and got all goose-bumpy and teary-eyed when I scored a live online feed of the first marriage ceremony.

Five couples got married that day at the 300 year-old Municipal Palace in Mexico City, including Judith Vazquez and Lol Kin Castañeda (2nd couple from left), who became the first lesbian women to be allowed to marry in Latin America [the first men to be allowed to marry in Latin America were Alex Freyre and José Maria Di Bello back on December 28th when they secured a marriage license in Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina].

You only see four couples in the photo because the 5th couple was late to the wedding (their plane was delayed). They missed out on having Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrand be a witness to their nuptials.

There have been a smattering of additional civil wedding ceremonies since Thursday, some more private than others. Mexican media, for example, has been enthralled by the fact that one particular groom, who was expected to show up for a wedding ceremony on Friday, never showed up for the ceremony and hasn't been heard of since then (let's hope it has all to do with cold feet and not anything worse than that).

A number of 'mass' weddings have been announced, including that of ten couples who married this afternoon in a public park with an estimated 3,000 witnesses.

On Friday, the Federal District (as Mexico City is referred to in Mexico) also announced that an Italian national - Mirko Mazardo - and his Mexican partner - Rodrigo Cervantes - were granted the right to marry through the country's immigration office. Mazardo and Cervantes had been living together in Italy for more than 10 years. It's not clear, from the CNN article, if this means that bi-national same-sex partners who decide to marry in Mexico City will be granted immigration rights.

I'll try to keep you updated.

Related:

• Mexico's first gay couples wed under landmark law (Reuters, March 11, 2010)
• Mexico City hosts nation's first marriages (Los Angeles Times, March 12, 2010)
• In Mexico, gay couples celebrate historic weddings (AP, March 14, 2010)