"Being Gay No Longer a Bar to Marriage"

[ConsAreLiars]

The most accurate headline ever on this issue.

BUENOS AIRES, Jul 15, 2010 (IPS) - Argentina is officially the first Latin American country to allow same-sex couples to marry, with the passage of a law Thursday that also permits gay couples to adopt children and to use assisted fertilisation to conceive a baby, rights that were hitherto restricted to heterosexual couples.

"Marriage will have the same requirements and effects, regardless of whether the parties are of the same or opposite sex," says one of the main articles in the law passed by the senate in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The bill to reform the marriage clauses in the civil code was approved in the lower house of Congress in May. In the senate, there were 33 votes in favour, 27 against, and three abstentions, passing the bill by a greater majority than had been predicted before the 14-hour long debate.

Government spokespersons said that the law would be enacted promptly by President Cristina Fernández, who celebrated the parliamentary decision as "a positive step for a leading country."

The vote in favour of the bill in the senate was supported by the pro-government Front for Victory, a centre-left wing within the Peronista or Justicialista Party (PJ), the Socialists, and some lawmakers belonging to the opposition Radical Civic Union and Civic Coalition.

From: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52175

[ConsAreLiars]

1. Thanks for the recs. I hope a few more see this news. (nt)

[Mimosa]

2. Interesting this happened in a primarily Catholic country

Catholic South American culture actually has defied stereotypes over the decades.

A few South American countries had female Presidents, which the US has never had.