The Future of Gay Marriage in Latin America Begins in Argentina

by Michael Jones · 2009-11-14 13:01:00 UTC
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ArgentinaGay marriage will become reality in Latin America, that's a fact. The only question is where it will happen first. Several countries have taken bold steps toward LGBT rights in the past few years, from Uruguay to Colombia. But this week Argentina took the boldest step of all, with an Argentine judge paving the way for Latin America's first legally recognized gay marriage.

The judge, Gabriela Seijas, ordered the city of Buenos Aires to recognize the marriage of two men, Alejandro Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello, who had sued the city's registry for failing to recognize their relationship as a marriage. In her ruling, Judge Seijas said, "The law should treat each person with equal respect in relation to each person's singularities without the need to understand or regulate them."

But the best quote of the day went to the mayor of Buenos Aires, who despite being part of a political party that is often reticent on LGBT rights, said that he would not stop the judge's ruling from taking effect.

"The world is heading in this direction," said Mayor Mauricio Macri. "What we have to learn is to live in liberty without violating the rights of others." Anybody want to see if this guy wants to be a politician up here in the U.S.?

The ruling, while historic, certainly isn't final. The decision can be appealed by other bodies, and the Catholic Church in Argentina, as the Catholic Church has done pretty much everywhere it exists, blasted gays and lesbians as if they were the Bubonic plague. Argentina is 91 percent Catholic, making it one of the most Catholic countries in the entire region.

One Catholic bishop in Argentina, Bishop Baldemoro Martin, said that same-sex marriage would put the public good at risk.

Still, not even the Catholic Church can rain on Argentina's gay marriage parade. This decision is unprecedented, and could prod the country's government to move forward with marriage equality legislation that has thus far stalled in the halls of the Argentine Congress. The head of Argentina's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Federation said that this legislation needs to pass in order to end social inequity in the country.

If it does pass, then the future of gay marriage in Latin American gets written in Argentina. And this Buenos Aires court case, unexpected by many accounts, gets to be the first chapter.

(Photo courtesy of Diegosaurius Rex's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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