Colombia OKs What May Be World's First Legal 'Throuple'

'We wanted to validate our household,' says one of the 3 men in relationship
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 3, 2017 2:12 PM CDT
Colombia OKs What May Be World's First Legal 'Throuple'
Here comes the groom ... and the groom ... and the groom.   (Getty Images/HerminUtomo)

"We want to make what's intimate, public." So says 23-year-old Victor Hugo Prada, who is gearing up to marry the two loves of his life after Colombia agreed to legalize a three-way union between Prada and his two boyfriends—perhaps the first such legalized "throuples" union not only in the South American country, but in the world, the Guardian notes. The paperwork joining Prada, Manuel Bermudez, and John Alejandro Rodriguez, which has already been signed off on by a Medellin notary, makes them a bona fide family unit in the eyes of the law, including for inheritance purposes, per News Corp Australia. "We wanted to validate our household ... and our rights," Prada said in a video making the rounds in Colombian media on Monday.

German Rincon-Perfetti, the lawyer behind the groundbreaking document, is careful to note this isn't considered a "marriage" under Colombian law. "A marriage is between two people, so we had to come up with a new word: a special patrimonial union," he says, per the Guardian. Bermudez and Rodriguez were the first to enter into the relationship 18 years ago, as well as the first male gay couple in the nation legally recognized in 2000 for their union. There was originally a fourth member in this polyamorous relationship: Alex Esneider Zabala, who started a relationship with Bermudez and Rodriguez in 2004. Zabala died of cancer three years ago, however, just one year after Prada also entered the picture. "There are a lot of throuples [around the world], but it is completely clandestine," Rincon Perfetti notes. A ceremony for the three men is being planned to take place in the next few months. (More Colombia stories.)

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