Boys Come to Visit

Justen and Aaron had been talking about coming to visit us for a long time, and they finally made the trip from August 20-27th! Unfortunately, Jill was in the states visiting her family during that time so she wasn't able to spend time with the boys. But it was really nice to have them visit, and I had a great time hanging out with them. Amazingly, the boys were able to take the bus from the airport to our apartment without any trouble, but since I had forgotten to tell them what our apartment number was, they had a bit of difficulty getting in! Once we connected, we ate beef empanadas and drank Malbec wine, and that night, we headed to a parilla so the boys could try Argentine steak! Afterward, we hung out at Jill B. and Elana's apartment in Palermo.

The following day, we walked through San Telmo up to Plaza de Mayo and toured Casa Rosada (the pink house, which was made famous in Evita starring Madonna). From there, we walked north along Florida street, famous for it's shopping, until we reached plaza San Martin. Then we walked east to Puerto Madero, from which we walked south back to our apartment in San Telmo. It was a lot of walking, but it's one of the best ways to see the city and the best way to pack a lot in! On Sunday, we spent time at both the Feria de Mataderos and the Feria in San Telmo. Artisans sell handmade goods and foods at these ferias, and in Mataderos there are some fun shows with dancers and gauchos to watch as well. On different days, we spent time in Recoleta, the boys learned how to tango dance at the annual Tango festival, we had hot chocolate and churros at a bar notable, the boys went to Uruguay, we went to Chinatown and we went hung out north of the city in Tigre.

We packed a lot of fun activities in, but I also enjoyed spending time just relaxing and hanging out with Justen and Aaron. We also ate a lot of delicious foods, and to top off the whole week, the boys took me to their favorite buffet to celebrate. It was really nice having them here, and I hope they can visit another time in another place!

Random Bs.As. photos: Crazy Hat Man of Palermo

This man sits in the middle of an antique market every day, tinkering away to create his crazy hat art. He has all these pictures posted of him posing with Argentine celebrities, so apparently he has a lot of admirers. Let us know if you us to bring one home for you ;)

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!