Gay Inmates Tie The Knot Inside Cyprus Prison
Two gay men met and formalised their bond through a civil union in a prison in Cyprus. Kevork Tontian met his husband Wemson Gabral da Costa behind bars. They fell in love and started a relationship while in prison. When Tontian was released from prison two years ago, he broke the law once again just so he could rejoin Da Costa back in prison. After a year he was freed again and Tontian got himself sent back to prison once more.
The couple has now become only the second same-sex couple to tie the knot inside a correctional facility of a European Union member country.
According to ‘NBC News’ “Same-sex couples in Cyprus can enter into a civil union which gives them the same rights and privileges as a married couple except that they are not allowed to adopt children.”
“We dare, we dare, we asked. There is no shame. Love has no shame,” Tontian told The Associated Press in an interview from inside the prisons' theatre.
Da Costa is currently undergoing hormone therapy as part of a potential gender-affirmation surgery.
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