BBC: Two Argentine men have become the first same-sex couple to marry legally in Latin America.
Alejandro Freyre, 39, and Jose Maria Di Bello, 41, tied the knot in a civil ceremony in the southern city of Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego province.
Gay marriage is illegal in Argentina. However, the Tierra del Fuego governor issued a special decree allowing the couple to wed there.
Roman Catholic leaders in the country expressed alarm at the move.
A judge in the capital, Buenos Aires, prevented the couple from marrying there earlier this month. Church anger >>> | Tuesday, December 29, 2009
THE GUARDIAN: Argentinians celebrate first same-sex marriage, while couple in Malawi are arrested and charged
It was a tale of two weddings continents apart, but there was to be only one happy ending.
In Argentina, Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre made history as the first same-sex couple to marry in Latin America. Thousands of miles away, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza became the first gay men to tie the knot in Malawi.
The different reactions to the two ceremonies, however, suggested that while gay rights in Latin America are advancing, in Africa they are going into reverse.
Although Di Bello and Freyre had to rely on subterfuge, a progressive provincial governor and a 1,500-mile trip to the continent's southern tip, their union was greeted as a breakthrough. Chimbalanga and Monjeza, however, were swiftly arrested and charged with gross public indecency. Campaigners warned that the move indicated a conservative backlash against homosexuality across Africa. >>> David Smith in Johannesburg and Rory Carroll in Caracas | Tuesday, December 29, 2009
BBC: Two gay men arrested in Malawi after getting engaged have pleaded not guilty to charges of gross public indecency.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza appeared at a court in Malawi's biggest city Blantyre, where they will ask for bail on Monday.
The pair held a traditional engagement ceremony over the weekend - believed to be the first gay couple in Malawi to start the process of getting married. >>> | Wednesday, December 30, 2009
iAFRICA: A gay couple was jailed for "gross indecency" in Malawi after the country's first same-sex public wedding ceremony over the weekend, as several African states were clamping down on homosexuality.
A police spokesman told AFP that Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, the first Malawian gays to publicly wed in a symbolic ceremony on Saturday "will appear in court soon to answer charges of gross indecency."
Homosexuality is banned in the conservative southern African country where the public discussion of sex is still taboo.
Malawi's penal code outlaws homosexuality and sodomy, which is punishable by a maximum of 14 years in jail.
Countries such as Uganda, Senegal and Burundi have intensified their efforts to repress homosexuality in a continent where 38 out of 53 countries have criminalised consensual gay sex.
Hundreds of people attended Saturday's ceremony held at a guesthouse in Blantyre and spiced with traditional and hip-hop music. The couple wore traditional robes. >>> | Wednesday, December 30, 2009
