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Couple Wed In Costa Rica's First Same-Sex Marriage Ceremony Risk Jail Sentence

"We believe that these people were aware that a marriage between people of the same sex warrants a complaint, that parts of the Criminal Code might have been broken."

Two weeks ago, Laura Flórez-Estrada married her "husband" Jazmín Elizondo. Though both identify as cisgender women, a 24-year-old clerical error (which incorrectly registered Elizondo as male on her birth certificate) allowed them the extremely rare loophole to wed in a country where same-sex marriage remains illegal.

Related: Nearly 100,000 Gay Couples Have Gotten Married In The US Since July

“I legally married a man and a woman," said Marco Castillo, president of Costa Rica’s Diversity Movement, who officiated at the civil ceremony in late July in Costa Rica's capital, San Jose. “It’s an important political step because it makes clear that rights should not be conditioned by gender identity,” said Mr Castillo. “This should make people see such issues as something natural”.

According to The Telegraph, this marks the first – and only – same-sex wedding in the Central American region as a whole. (Though the Costa Rican court gave the green light to same-sex couples registering civil unions earlier this year, same-sex marriage remains illegal.)

Though the two were married back in July, it wasn't until two weeks ago that the Civil Registry finally issued a confirmation. "We would search every day until finally we found out that, yes, we are married,” Mrs Flórez-Estrada said. “I don’t know if it was destiny or what, but to me it is marvelous.”

Unfortunately, the pair's happily ever after might soon be overturned.

The director of Costa Rica's Civil Registry, Luis Bolanos, said yesterday he was referring the matter to prosecutors and seeking an annulment.

"We believe that these people were aware that a marriage between people of the same sex warrants a complaint, that parts of the Criminal Code might have been broken," Bolanos said.

Also not working in the couple's favor: The statute against same-sex marriages in Costa Rica, which can slap a jail sentence of between two and six years for those willfully breaking the law and the annulment of the marriage.

According to Bolanos the gender mistake on Elizondo's registry record had been corrected. Their marriage, however, remains in limbo.

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