130 Same-Sex Couples Tie the Knot in Brazil

One hundred thirty same-sex couples married in a mass wedding at Rio de Janeiro's Superior Court on Sunday, the Agence France-Presse reports.

The event was the city's first same-sex civil marriage ceremony, and has been called the largest gay wedding ceremony ever. Among the the happy couples was, Viviane Soares Lessa de Faria, 38, who smiled at her partner and told local media, "I've dreamed of marrying her since I met her."

Even though Brazil's national congress has not passed a bill legalizing gay marriage, Brazilian courts ruled in May that public offices that oversee marriage couldn't turn away same-sex couples. According to the AFP, some officials from the pubic offices still rejected same-sex couple's marriage applications, however.

Giuseppe Laricchia, 21, who married his boyfriend at the event told the AFP, "We need to have equality with heterosexual couples."

Judge Cristina Gaulia commented on the mass wedding, calling it a "political victory."

Brazil's Supreme Court passed a law two years ago, allowing same-sex couples to enter into a civil union, which gave them similar marriage rights to heterosexual couples.