Well it sure took long enough (15 hours of full floor debate), but Argentina’s Senate just passed its same-sex marriage bill in a 33-27 vote. That it’s a country made up of 90 percent Roman Catholics cannot go unmentioned. The bill now heads to the desk of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who’s expected to quickly sign it into law after previously voicing unwavering support for the bill, and will make Argentina the first nation in Latin America to okay marriage equality.
Argentina joins the esteemed list of rational-thinking countries: Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, and Iceland all legalized same-sex marriages.
Expect President Obama to remain painfully silent.
Gorbeh
There was a gorgeous Argentinian in my physics class!
Jeff K.
90% of them might have been baptized, but I doubt that the same number are practicing Roman Catholics.
Good for them in any case.
Mike L.
Yay! I spent all night watching and comenting on a live online stream of the debate. So many xtians/catholics being asses, as expected, some young (not so much expected). Some becoming talibangelist in their comments that call for “faggot blood” and other crazy sht. Only read one commenter that I flagged calling for the murder and beating of gays.
But other than that yay!!! Take that Pres Obama, you double-mouthed hipocrit!
Billy
Obama called, he wants to borrow some brain cells. This lady knows her stuff, I applaud her for talking about the reality of equality here.
Britney
You people are dumb.
Obama supports same-sex marriage.
But in America, this day in age, it’s political suicide. Sadly, America WOULD NOT have voted for him if they knew he was a supporter of same-sex marriage.
He supported it when he was a state senator, but has since said he doesn’t.
I seriously doubt he just changed his mind that quickly.
If Obama is reelected, expect for him to come out as a supporter.
Mike L.
@Billy: No I think he’s calling to borrow her ovaries, b/c he’s missing his testes XD
Sceth
“@Britney:
If Obama is reelected, expect for him to come out as a supporter.”
I’m sure that there are people who expected Obama supporters to say that, to precede it with giving him slack on this fifth month in power, and to follow it with waiting for his seventh year for any action on DOMA if it’s still standing.
Devon
Awesome. Good on Argentina.
Jeffree
Viva Argentina. Que buenas noticias! Ok, I only know bad fake Spanish, but it’s still great news: I sure wouldn’t have predicted this to run in our favor due to the huge % of RCaths there, but it shows that the world is changing, nation by nation, continent by continent……
if I had 30 extra dollars in my pocket, I’d love to send Mrs Srivistav ~a.k.a Maggie Gallagher~a dozen cookies so she can “celebrate” with us. We all know that her poor unseen non-xtian husband would’nt get a crumb 😀
Gracias Argentina!
—-jeffree
christopher di spirito
Good on Argentina!
And to the cretins in the Roman Catholic Church who worked to derail marriage equality in Argentina, fuck you.
Argentina will have gay marriage but the U.S. continues to treat gay and lesbian couples like 5th class citizens.
Thanks again, Bill Clinton, for signing DOMA, you rotten piece of shit.
mconyc08
When the debate began, there were more senators against it than in favor. What was surprising was that many in the opposition wanted to vote for civil unions (but no adoptions) and not same sex marriage and had introduced a bill to legalize that way but it was killed. When this happened, one or two opposition senators left. It’s interesting how even though they were against calling it marriage, some opposing senators wanted to “at least” legalize civil unions (but not all senators since some were vehemently opposed to both types of recognition).
Also, Argentinean media reported that former president, Ernesto Kirchner (husband of the current president), and the current administration lobbied intensely to get the measure passed. It was mostly political. Just goes to show you…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/world/americas/14argentina.html?_r=1&ref=argentina
mconyc08
Oh, and one of the my favorite arguments pro-adoption was:
“If there’s a child who can be adopted by a gay couple it´s because there’s heterosexual couple who has failed”
Javier
Argentina is socially and more politically more progressive than the United States, which is why it passed. America has a much stronger, deeper socially conservative population than many countries in Latin America.
scott ny'er
This is great. Congrats to our brothers/sisters in Argentina.
Andrew
I went to sleep before they deicded this, and I have to admit that when I went online this morning I was preparing myself for the worse. This stuff never turns out well for us. Well, it looks like I was wrong, and this just made my day. :] One more victory for equality!
Mathew
Today also happens to be my birthday. I will consider this to be one of my birthday “gifts”. 🙂
Ricky Martin
#Argentina votes yes on gay marriage law! A great nation making history
about 6 hours ago
#Argentina, nacion pensante, tolerante y justa hace historia al decir SI al #matrimoniogay! Ejemplo para el resto d latino America! Felicidades!
about 5 hours ago
http://twitter.com/ricky_martin
Bill Perdue
Adelante. This is wonderful news.
Argentina moves forward and will begin to pull much of Latin America with it. Maybe this will wake up the Cuban Communist Party and the Brazilian Workers Party. They’re slackers.
One thing we can be sure of, it won’t wake up the Democrats and Republicans. They remain pigheadedly opposed to same sex marriage rights because they’re run by christian bigots like Obama and McCain.
The US is a banana republic. We have to fix that, once and for all. Hasta La Victoria Siempre…
Troy Boy
@Mathew: Happy Birthday!I wish you full equality!
Mathew
@Troy Boy: Thank you, Troy!
Andrew
May I also say this: President Kirchner and her Husband whom both lobbied so hard for this bill are true leaders, fighting for justice, equality and RIGHT no matter HOW small the margins are. She has more bravery in a single strand of hair than Obama has at all!
L.
@mconyc08: I had *never* heard that one but I *sure* will use in the future – what a wonderful phrase! Thanks for posting it!
(And – Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Argentina!, of course.)
Robert
Well done, Argentina, you put the U.S to great shame, the fourth catholic country, truly amazing. This is a nail in the coffin of the Roman cult’s stranglehold in Latin America. I predict Brazil will be next.
Britney, Obama flip flopped on marriage equality as soon as he became president and it had nothing to do with political expediency. God is in the mix. He’s already declared, publicly, that he only supports civil unions at the federal level and went a step further by saying that same-sex civil marriage has religious connotations which precludes him from supporting it. You’re in denial. He of all people should know better that separate is never equal and as a constitutional scholar hasn’t learned a thing from the Civil Rights movement. The U.S. will remain far behind as more progressive, more enlightened better societies march forward to full equality. We won’t be among them, not with religion in the mix which is at the root of discrimination against gay people.
Dan
Argentina passed marriage equality because the Argentine populace knows what it was previously like living under a dictatorship that violated the human rights of many people. Now that they have a democracy they understand that it is not “us vs. them” but rather “we the people” and so they fulfilled human rights for a minority. To paraphrase one legislator, “a minority cannot impose its will upon a majority through votes, so it is important in a democracy for Congress to fulfill civil rights for the minority to ensure justice, equality and human rights for all.”
Robert
Dan, you’re absolutely right. Similarly, the rights of the minority in the American constitution under the 14th amendment are guaranteed and are blatantly ignored when it comes to our right to marriage. Obama of all people should know this.
Argentina’s decision is huge and has major implications not only for the rest of Latin America but for the U.S. too. I envisage the entire Latin America as a full equality zone in time.
John (CA)
This is a big deal and there are many “firsts” of note:
– First Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage
– First jurisdiction with an ethnic Italian majority (60%) to legalize same-sex marriage
– First country to legalize same-sex marriage where lawmakers had a completely free vote (i.e. no parliamentary whip imposed by the ruling parties or threat of a court order)
– First Head of State, President Kirchner showed exceptional leadership here, to appear on national television to endorse same-sex marriage while the outcome of the vote remained unclear
Additionally, Argentina is the third country with over 40 million people to institute marriage equality. The others are South Africa and Spain. While size shouldn’t matter in the pursuit of equality, it ultimately does politically because the anti-gay forces are constantly pointing out that this is a movement that can only gain traction in stereotypically small, liberal regions.
Mike in Asheville, nee "in Brooklyn"
Today is a great day to be gay! Viva Argentina!
Cam
Congratulations Argentina! Another country now to try to visit and give tourist dollars to!
RAUL
FELICIDADES!!!! ARGENTINA!!!!! ;-)))THAT’s the best news soo far in 2010 for LGBT COMMUNITY!!!!
Revemupman
Great, finally some good news!
christopher di spirito
@Britney: Obama was very much pro gay marriage back in Chicago and even as a US senate candidate he supported marriage equality.
But as soon as he heard the call to run for president, I suspect his handlers — people like Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, strongly advised him to dial it back and instead, come out in favor of civil unions.
I don’t think he will ever support gay marriage as long as he’s the president. Once he’s private citizen Barack Obama, he will say he supports gay marriage. A la Bill Clinton and Pickles Bush.
shanelle
I cannot wait to visit the Argentine!
They have a female President. Will we have one here soon?
I hope Brasil will do the same thing for us, soon, too.
Note to self: renew passport, begin planning wardrobe. Review: National Geographical articles on Argentina, find out what they eat there.
words: Shanelle
soundtrack: “Learn Some Spanish” CD
backup vocals: Goochi
tax guy: Uncle Lennart
caterer: Kebabs Galore
manicure: B.Y.O.B No-Chip Salon
———— [really we hace a place like that near here]
BuenosAiresBoy
In spite of this, the Kirchners are crooks!
Charles
Your number at 90% Roman Catholic is high. 70% is more accurate, and of those, only about 20% regularly attend church. By law, the government must economically support the Roman Catholic Church, and until 1994, the President and Vice President had to be Roman Catholics. In all, this vote can perhaps be likewise viewed as a referendum of sorts on the Catholic Church.
Kalbo
Change has come to (Latin) America … Still waiting for the so-called Land of the Free up north to follow suit. *sigh
Michael
@Javier: This is a banner day indeed, but there is nothing socially and politically progressive about a country (Argentina) that by law taxes it’s citizens to fund the Catholic Church. That’s medieval.
Endless Men
Congratulation for argentina !
gilber
i’m so happy for all gay people in argentina!!! next will be uruguay,then chile,brasil,paraguay and mexico.the rest of latin american countries won’t have gay marriage until probably the next century.
Kieran
CATHOLIC Argentina says YES to gay marriage.
So-called “Land of the ‘free'” United States says NO to gay marriage.
Maybe we need to change our slogan?
Omar
woo hoo!!
finaly there’s one country that does something about gay marriage in latin america, ya era tiempo que algo pasara!!
i hope that all those ppl that have been waiting do so! it would really suck if Argentina changed, just like California my home state where dumb ppl had to vote agianst gay marriage when we already had it!!!
Luciano
I am so proud to be Argentine!!! We have one of the brightest women as PRESIDENT! We had an amazing Bicentennial celebration!!!
What is happening in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina in terms of expansion of LGBT rights force the US to rethink who is really more progressive, who is seriously more secular, and who is more religious.
As some of the posts here stated, Argentines DO NOT go to church. They just say they are catholics but they don’t practice at all. The US is far, far more religious society.
In any case, I hope that the US can move forward in the fight for EQUALITY for all of its citizens. I would like to think that the more countries in the Americas that advance gay rights, the more the US politicians will feel the pressure to follow suit.
Canada and Argentina already did it! We are the bums of the geographical sandwich!
m
i am argentinian and i am extremely proud!
NEVER THE LESS, you guys should know that cristina kirchner (the female president)SUCKS…
but still, this vote for equality is something to be really happy about, not only as a country but as a world in general because it means that people are opening their minds more and more and we are going step by step towards better things!
come visit us here, everyone’s welcome 🙂
Gabriel
@Andrew: And have you seen/heard her in the video, quoting, stating history facts, without reading a single paper note? We should bring her here and start a political party!