Two Russian homosexuals married Tuesday in Argentina and said they would seek asylum from the violence they fear back home in the Olympic city of Sochi, joining a growing number of other gays seeking marriage and refuge abroad, according to the Associated Press.
Alexander Eremeev and Dmitry Zaytsev were wedded before a judge at a civil registry in Buenos Aires, where they were helped by rights activists who want Argentina to become a refuge for Russians and other nationalities who fear persecution at home because of their sexual orientation, the AP reported.
They plan to make their case before Argentina's National Commission for Refugees within the next few days, saying their new status as a married couple makes them vulnerable to police persecution and mob violence in Sochi, which just hosted the Winter Games, according to the AP.
Citing gay marriage in asylum cases is a growing trend in the United States and Europe as well, said Aaron Morris, legal director of Immigration Equality, a New York-based group that helps immigrants file such claims, the AP reported.
The group's Russian case load grew from about 11 a year to 28 in 2013, and 33 gay Russians already asked for its help in January alone, he said, according to the AP.
"Many of our clients come out of the closet only after they arrive here. To be eligible for asylum, an LGBT person must prove a reasonable possibility of persecution in the future. There are many factors that might carry that burden, but of course having a same-sex spouse would be very dangerous in many parts of the world, including Russia," Morris said, the AP repored.
Eremeev, 45, and Zaytsev, 37, were bare-chested below their vests and bow ties, but wore ribbons split between the color of the rainbow and the Argentine flag and pinned on flowers in the blue, white and red of Russia's flag, according to the AP.
"We care for each other, we know each other, we have many things in common and we want this to be a legal union," Eremeev said nervously in Russian, the AP reported. The two said they suffered hostility until leaving Sochi two months ago.
Judge Jose Luis Badur told them such "sentiment does not depend on any law; it depends on nature," according to the AP.
Other gay Russians have married and obtained political asylum in Argentina, but this is the first couple to do so publicly, said Alex Freyre, whose marriage to Jose Maria Di Bello in December 2009 was Argentina's first gay wedding. More than 7,000 other same-sex marriages have followed, the AP reported.
