Same-sex couples in Mexico City were handed marriage licenses for the first time yesterday. The licenses also allow gay couples to adopt children and receive government benefits.

Same-sex marriages were legalized in December and since then the issue has garnered tension between the progressive city and the much more conservative country. Mexican Catholic Cardinal Norberto Rivera recently called the law a “violation against children” that “respects neither culture nor nationality.

The President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, is also against same-sex marriage and supports a constitutional challenge against the law.

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