Jerusalem: In a historical verdict, an Israeli court has allowed a gay couple to divorce, media reports said.
Uzi Even, a chemistry professor at the Tel Aviv University, and Amit Kama, a communications teacher, approached a family court last month requesting that the interior ministry register them as a divorced couple, Xinhua reported Monday.
The two had married in Canada and registered as a married couple at the ministry.
Judge Yehezkel Eliyahu granted them their request, basing his decision on an instruction by the Supreme Court to register same-sex couples who married in foreign countries.
"Once the Supreme Court ordered the registration of the marriage, the possibility cannot be considered that petitioners who decided to end their marriage would remain tied to each other," the judge stated in his verdict Sunday.
The authority to conduct marriage ceremonies and divorces in Israel is in the hands of rabbinical institutions and courts, unless the couples have been married abroad and have registered as married in the interior ministry.
IANS
First Published: Monday, December 03, 2012, 21:18