Groom stands up groom at gay wedding in Mexico

Mar 12, 2010, 21:44 GMT

Mexico - A gay wedding that was scheduled to take place Friday in Mexico City had to be called off because one of the grooms did not show up or answer his telephone.

It was only the second day that gay and lesbian couples could legally get married in Mexico City, and various authorities including the city's Tourism minister Alejandro Rojas had been invited to the wedding.

However, Angel Licona, 43, was still single when he left the restaurant Doce Treinta in the so-called Zona Rosa, or pink zone, the centre of gay life in Mexico City. His fiance, Josaat Perez, 23, did not show up.

Rojas noted that the authorities did not immediately know whether Perez had just changed his mind or whether something had prevented him from getting married Friday.

On Thursday, five homosexual couples got married in the city, at the Old Mayoral Palace, in the presence of Mayor Marcelo Ebrard. These were the first such weddings ever held in the country.

Although the first same-sex wedding in Latin America was held in Argentina in December, Mexico City is the only city in the region in which marriage between people of the same gender is recognized by the civil code. The relevant reforms were approved in December and went into force on March 4.

These couples are now entitled to the same rights and obligations of heterosexual married couples, including the right to adopt children. However, legal wrangling is likely to continue.

In January, the Attorney General's Office filed a formal complaint before the country's Supreme Court of Justice, arguing that these weddings are unconstitutional. Mexico's highest tribunal has yet to rule on the issue, but the weddings that take place until then will in any case be valid.