Though it still requires President Tabare Vazquez’s signature, Uruguay is set to lift a ban on gays serving openly in the military, which has been in place for more than two decades.
Now doesn’t that ban, which kept out anyone suffering from “open sexual deviations,” sound an awful lot like a certain other nation’s ban on gays in the military? It does!
But then again, it was back in 2007 that Uruguay beat America to a nationwide legalization of same-sex civil unions, so it’s not like we should do something stupid and expect the United States to get around to civil rights any sooner.
Justin Hesketh
Having spent a week in Uruguay this past January, I must say it’s a lovely country.
atdleft
Heh. Rachel Maddow is right. Just the name “URUGUAY” is awesome! Even they’re leaping ever so gayly into the 21st century while the good ol’ USA is stuck in the past.
Dabq
Kind of funny how Catholic run countries are turning out to be more progressive on gay rights than the Puritanical, bible quoting, sexually repressed USA!
strumpetwindsock
@Dabq:
Another example – Italians voted 80% to keep abotion legal in their referendum in the 1980s.
A speaker I heard last weekend said that when Roe vs. Wade came down most U.S. protestants were in favour of it because it reinforced the separation of church and state. She pointed out that the evangelical move into politics is a turnaround which started in the Reagan Years – specifically on the abortion issue.
And I just found this poll which indicates that more U.S. Catholics are now in favour of abortion than protestants.
strumpetwindsock
ooops.
That link:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/abortion_poll030122.html
schlukitz
@Dabq:
The perils of a theocracy, which is what the USA has become, unfortunately.
America is not the leader for human rights as it would have itself believe.
Hypocrites.
Adrian Acosta
@Justin Hesketh: Having been born in Uruguay, and lived there for years, I can attest to the fact that Uruguay is a nice country. I remember the people being nicer than the land itself which I guess now with such gay progress it all makes sense.
Mom will be moving back there later this year 🙁
tavdy79
@Dabq: In the Americas yes, however in Europe the opposite is true: the Protestant states are the most forward thinking, the Orthodox & Muslim states are stuck in the sociological stone age, and the Catholic states are split between the two. Of course, the Europe’s Protestant states are also its least religious.
strumpetwindsock
@tavdy79:
I have heard from several sources that the rise in your religious right is a recent trend (since the Reagan years).
Here in Canada we actually have both Catholic (Quebec) and Protestant (English Canada) in one state.
We have strong separation of church and state, unlike the U.S. Ironically, that separation is strongest in Quebec, probably because the Catholic church played a major role in oppression there until the 60s.
TANK
This is humiliating. One of America’s greatest shames, actually. What other financially depressed south american outposts are going to prove more progressive than the u.s.?
petted
@tavdy79: I think your thinking of the East-West European divide in which case it’d be better to look at whether or not the country is a post soviet state, also most eastern European countries (including the Balkans) have significant Orthodox churches (Greek Orthodox, Russian, etc.) who seem to be far more antigay then the Catholic church.
InExile
Equality for gays just isn’t a priority for the Obama administration, they are just way too busy with other things. It seems like they are not even moving forward with “separate as opposed to equal” rights for LGBT citizens. It is so disappointing to watch the bus coming towards us again!
stevenelliot
Mexico has a state that has equal marriage rights. Canada has gay marriage and civil rights. Now Uruguay. Someone somewhere said that in 10 years when the USA finally gives us rights, our citizens will be patting each other on the back about how progressive we all are in America.
Pity
Fin
In other South American gay news, Peru has banned gays from becoming policemen. I wonder if they will adopt a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy.
HYHYBT
I’m sure it’s a beautiful country, with great people, and gay rights are good and all, but as long as they have bird-eating spiders I’m staying home.
me
hehehe UR G AY
Francis
Uruguay: Bill that would allow change of name and gender in public documents approved by Senate
by Andrés Duque
“Minors under 12 years of age will be able to change registered gender with parents’ permission”: That’s the sensationalistic headline for an article in El País on the Uruguayan senate’s approval yesterday of a bill that would allow transgender individuals to legally change their name and gender in all public documents. “Transsexuals have won half a battle,” said El País. A version of the bill would have to be approved by the South American country’s House of Representatives in order to become law.
The most heated exchange during the debate came when opponents argued that it would open the door to same-sex marriage. Their argument was that since the bill does not require gender reassignment surgery as prerequisite for a change of identity in public documents, and since those who change their identity would be allowed to “exercise of all the rights inherent in their new condition” including marriage to a person of the opposite gender, it would result in marriages by couples with similar sexual organs.
Proponents argued that the bill was not a same-sex marriage bill and that, in any case, it would only apply to a small number of individuals for whom the bill would greatly improve their personal lives. A last minute agreement did result in an amendment to the bill’s language which requires that “minors under 12 [years of age] should have permission from their parents to initiate the process.” The language was added in response to opponents who said that children as young as four would be able to have access to the law without their parents’ knowledge or oversight.
If the bill becomes law, it would require a person seeking to change their public documents to go before Family Court and submit an evaluation proving that the person has had at least two years of conflict with his or her gender identity. According to AFP, the two year requirement would be waived for those individuals who have previously undergone gender-reassignment surgery.A temporary panel would be created to work with the Family Court on specific cases for what is expected to be an initial surge of requests (the panel would disband later as petitions decrease and Family Court staff become better qualified to oversee the process).
It would also require that the Civil Registry discretely inform a future spouse of a partner’s previous change in gender.
rudy
From a purely tactical standpoint, did Uruguayan gay groups hold out for “marriage” only or nothing and compare the use of any other term to be the equivalent of Brown vs. Board of Ed?
Francis
Uruguay
LGBT parenting
Adoption and family planning
A law accepting gay adoption has been promoted by the government and it is currently discussed by Uruguayan parliament.
They are doing things right i don’t know if that’s a tactical thing or not but i don’t care about titles what matters is what they are doing right now, time will say if the title is that necessary or not.