A LESBIAN couple were legally wed in Russia on Friday, despite the country’s ban on same-sex marriages.

    Irina Shumilova and Alyona Fursova were able to exploit a legal loophole because, despite living as a gay woman, Shumilova is a transsexual and listed as male on her passport.

    Shumilova explained that she categorically does not identify as a man. “Yes, in my passport it says ‘male,’” she said. “I am transsexual, meaning that despite I have XY-genome (sic), psychologically I am a woman.”

    The couple married at a registry office in St. Petersburg, with both choosing to wear traditional white wedding dresses for the day.

    Following their nuptials Shumilova and Fursova were given a legal marriage certificate. Shumilova is currently undergoing hormone therapy and wears a blonde wig and make-up at all times.

    (SD-Agencies)