SANTIAGO, Chile —

       Two men became the first same-sex couple to marry in Chile on Thursday under a law that took effect after years of campaigning by activists.

       Engineer Javier Silva and dentist Jaime Nazar, who have been together for seven years, had previously legalized their status as a couple under a civil-union agreement. They have two children.

       “Being the first to get married in Chile is an honor,” Silva said at the civil registry office in Providencia, a neighborhood in Santiago, Chile’s capital.

       “Now we can say that we are family, that our children have the same conditions and will be able to, we hope, have a better future, that they will not be discriminated against for having two fathers who love each other,” Silva said.