A Denver community helped two women get married as they traveled halfway around the world

After fleeing Venezuela so they could be together, two gay women were finally able to get married thanks to the Denver community.

Amarilis and Mariangy Delgado Gutierrez are from Valencia, Venezuela, and grew up in two close-knit families. But it wasn’t until five years ago that sparks began to fly, and the pair fell more and more in love as they spent more time together.

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Before they decided they wanted to be together, Mariangy had two children and a boyfriend, whom she later left so she could be with Amarilis.

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However, the boy did not accept their love, nor did their families.

“We started by writing letters to each other, and then we started dating,” Amarilis said Western Word. “We dated until she realized she didn’t want to be with him anymore. She wanted to be with me. She finally made her decision, but there were a lot of problems because the man never accepted her.”

Although Marianga’s mother is starting to come back and Amarilis’ relatives fled with the couple and their children to the United States, they both had to leave everything to be together and provide their children with a better future.

“It was an idea we had way before we came to the United States,” Amarilis says. “I mentioned it jokingly to her, saying, ‘Amor, let’s get married.’ At first she said, “You don’t want to marry me,” and we went from there – and well, after a while it worked.

They escaped through the Darién Gap, a 100 km long region of dense jungles filled with dangerous wildlife, unstable terrain and massive crime. It is often called one of the most dangerous areas in the world.

They then sold the lollipops in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico to raise enough money to reach the American border.

“A lot happened when we came through the Darién Pass. We had to cross mountains, rivers and many other things,” says Amarilis. “In Panama, we had to walk through the streets selling candy to complete the crossing.”

The immigration officer told both they would be lucky if they found acceptance in Denver. They followed the official’s advice and, after a long bus ride, reached the city.

However, their dreams of marriage had to be put on hold for the time being as they could not afford a marriage license. That was until Dork Dancing stepped in.

Dork Dancing is a nonprofit mental health organization that employs immigrants to help them build their professional histories. After hearing about the two women’s desire to get married, Dork Dancing stepped in and organized the wedding for them, covering all expenses.

The wider community was invited to the wedding, and dozens of people came to show support for the couple. Even a few people passing by stopped to join in.

Their honeymoon is also sponsored, although details have not yet been revealed.

“Thank God we started feeling a lot better when we got here,” Amarilis says of Denver. “The people here were very supportive. We received great help from many people. We can move forward step by step. We still have a long way to go, but we are slowly moving forward until the situation stabilizes.”

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