Marriage para Todos!

We were lucky enough to be here this year when Argentina became the first country, in all of Latin America, and the second in the Americas to legalize gay marriage on July 15, 2010. Part of the reason we chose to come to Buenos Aires was because it was the place where we felt we could be the most open about who we are and the safest in Latin America. While there are still places here, just like in the US, where we don't feel totally comfortable, it's much more progressive than I think either of us realized at the outset. At the end of our trip we have found that BA is a pretty gay friendly city- there are gay bars, clubs, cultural centers, bookstores, coffee shops and even queer tango lessons! We've met a lot of gay people here, Argentinians and foreigners, and for the most part they think BA is a great place to be if you're queer.

Unfortunately, these attitudes are certainly not shared by everyone- especially outside of Capital. There was a strong nationwide anti-gay marriage movement here as well. The week before the vote, while walking in the city to teach my 8am class I was visually bombarded by signs and posters plastered all over the city, as well as canvassers at the bus stops and subways urging people to "protect the family." The posters depicted a mother and father smiling and holding their infant with the words "Todos al Congreso para Proteger la Familia" or "Cada Niño se Merece un Padre y una Madre" Which translates to "Everyone to Congreso to Protect the Family" and "Every Child Deserves a Father and a Mother." So Catholic protesters in Argentina take the same approach as right-wing conservative Christians in the US, they make it about family. There has also been graffiti around the city saying incendiary things like "Homosexualidad = SIDA" or Homosexuality = AIDS and "Matrimonio = Hombre + Mujer" or Marriage = Man + Woman. Seeing those signs around the city made me so angry. 200,000 people marched on Congreso to "protect marriage," seeing that image on the front page of the paper the day the vote was supposed to happen made me feel sad and disheartened.

However, despite the opposition, the bill passed, historically through legislation rather than through a judicial decision. The bill was originally scheduled to be voted on July 14 but after a marathon session that went into the early hours of the next day, on July 15 the Senate passed the same-sex marriage bill, by a vote of 33 to 27. On July 21, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed the bill into law. The law grants for same-sex couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, including the right to adopt children. The first marriages were performed on July 30, 2010. Argentina is the 10th country in the world to legalize gay marriage, joining the ranks of Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden. Worldwide there are also some smaller jurisdictions where gay marriage is legal: Mexico City as well as US states Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, and Washington DC (we'll see about CA!).

The celebration in Congreso afterward was massive and rivaled that of the earlier protest. We are happy we chose to come to such a progressive place, and of course hope to see equality spread throughout the Americas. Hooray!