Spanish

"Mexico's capital city handed out its first licenses for same-sex marriage, allowing gay couples not only to marry legally, but also to adopt children and receive government benefits--changes that pit the city's progressive government against a more conservative country that surrounds it....The law, passed in December [2009] and effective Thursday [March 4, 2010], applies only to the capital, a city of 10 million....The changes were hailed by gay-rights advocates as a major event in Latin America."