Peruvian LGBTQ couples call for marriage equality in symbolic wedding

LGBTQ couples in Peru took part in a symbolic wedding ceremony on Friday in an annual event aimed at calling for marriage equality in the conservative South American nation. Eleven couples exchanged vows at a park in the Miraflores district of Lima in a ceremony to mark Valentine's Day called "Love does not discriminate."

Peru, a majority-Catholic country, is one of just a handful of nations in Latin America to not have at least partially recognized same-sex unions. "We are here more than anything for a symbolic marriage," said Juan Carlos Martinez, who took part in the ceremony hosted by the LGBTQ community along with his partner.

"It is like a protest to the Peruvian state because it is really time for the country to have a civil union marriage which we, as Peruvians, really deserve and have the right to receive." Other South American nations, including Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Colombia, have legalized gay marriage in recent years.

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