Stronger than the prejudice, the bureaucracy, the rubber wall against which they collided. "Love overcomes any obstacle." So it was: after six months of battle against the "no" of the Municipality of Porto Torres to issue the green light needed to get married, Airicki Rubiu and Tiziano Demartis, 47 and 50 years old, the first originally from Sinnai, the second of the town of Turrian, have crowned the desire to unite their two lives in one: last Saturday they got married in Gran Canaria, the Spanish island off the African coast on which they have lived for 13 years and where, last November, they were the natural arrival of a relationship that began 24 years ago is already planned. But the final "yes" was choked in the throat because the Municipality of Porto Torres, contrary to that of Sinnai which had immediately given its approval, had not issued the document of "marriage capacity" which certified the absence of impediments to take that step. So, no marriage.

The ultimate success

But strong feelings are unshakeable and go beyond all obstacles. So the two lovers found a way to get around - legally - the denial arrived from Sardinia and got married two days ago. A civil ceremony celebrated privately by Eduardo Armas Herrera, municipal councilor of Maspalomas en San Bartolomè de Tiranaja, after the green light of the Spanish court arrived on 27 April. «We fought to realize a dream and our right. We have succeeded ».

The bureaucracy

A result obtained thanks to the Italian embassy in Madrid, which granted the document and allowed the marriage to be celebrated. The couple met on the south coast of Sardinia, where Demartis was on vacation. "When I met Tiziano I fell in love immediately" revealed Rubiu a few months ago. He had followed him to Bergamo, then both of them had gone to Vicenza (director of an Airicki supermarket, his companion goldsmith) to return to the island and open a travel agency. Finally 15 years ago they moved to Gran Canaria where they work in the wellness center of a hotel and bought a house. The desire to marry was also due to the will "to legalize the union and protect us, no one knows what could happen tomorrow," explained Rubiu. But the documentation did not arrive. So the couple turned to the Cagliari lawyer Mauro Cuccu who last September 20 had sent a warning to the Porto Torres administration talking about a "denial based on a discriminatory statement", as the "no to release" was linked to the male sex of the spouses while international conventions and national regulations "oblige the municipalities to issue the certificate" and "the marriage is valid if so considered by the law of the place of celebration", Spain. The mayor Massimo Mulas had instead argued that the deed should only be delivered if there were "the conditions necessary to marry required by Italian law", which "prevents the registration in the civil status registers" of a marriage celebrated "abroad between persons of the same sex between an Italian citizen and a foreigner ". The deed can "be transcribed into our legal system as a civil union" because "only that contracted abroad by two foreign citizens can be transcribed as a marriage".

Joy

Now the happy ending. “We appeal to all people who find obstacles to claim their rights”, urges Aricki: “Don't give up. We didn't do it and we won ».

Andrea Manunza

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