Lisbon, Portugal, Jun 8, 2010 / 11:50 am
Teresa Pires and Helena Paixao have become the first homosexual couple to “marry” in Portugal since the passage of controversial law that allows same-sex “marriage.”
During the ceremony attended by friends and families, the presider said, “On behalf of the Republic of Portugal and its laws, I now pronounce you married.”
Pires said the act was a dream come true but, in veiled reference to homosexual adoption, warned, “This is not the end of the struggle.” Both women have children from previous natural marriages.
In 2006, the pair attempted to contract marriage, and their case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled against them last July.
Despite massive opposition, Portugal’s Socialist government launched an intense effort to pass a measure legalizing same-sex “marriage,” resulting in it being made legal in May 2010 when President Anibal Cavaco Silva signed the law.