Argentina: Senate Approves Equal Marriage

The Argentinean Senate sanctioned a law that establishes equal rights to marry, without discriminating between heterosexual and homosexual couples, and with the same rights to adoption, among other issues. With this measure, Argentina becomes the first Latin American country to allow same-sex marriage. The law was approved with the individual vote of Senators from different political parties; the parties gave the Senators the freedom to support or reject the law.

The topic was largely debated on Twitter, where the hashtag #matrimoniogay (gay marriage) became one of the trending topics on a worldwide scale for many hours. There we could see a large number of tweets about this issue. Many of them came from users of other Latin American countries, who also shared their position on this topic. Here’s a brief selection of tweets from those in favor:

A los creyentes: ya está, si dios permitió que se apruebe es porque no tiene problemas con el #matrimoniogay así que aflojen con el rezoless than a minute ago via web

To the believers: lighten up, if God allowed the approval of this law, it’s because he has no problems with #matrimoniogay so stop it with the praying.

Haber despertado con la noticia de la aprobación del #matrimoniogay me hace sentir orgullosa de vivir en un país que busca la igualdadless than a minute ago via web

Waking up to the news of #matrimoniogay approval makes me proud of living in a country that seeks equality.

Que bonito! parabéns, Argentina. Grande exemplo pra América Latina. #matrimoniogayless than a minute ago via TweetDeck

Beautiful! congratulations, Argentina! A great example to Latin America.

¡Felicidades Argentina! a seguirle el paso a los vecinos… #matrimoniogay #argentina Perdieron el mundial pero la ganaron en igualdadless than a minute ago via TweetDeck

Congratulations, Argentina! your neighbors will have to follow your example. You may have lost the World Cup, but you won in equality.

#matrimoniogay Vivimos en un país mejor que el de ayer.less than a minute ago via web

Today we live in a better country than we did yesterday.

On Twitter we can also see some condemnatory expressions against these equal rights –some arguments appealed to particular religious arguments– but in a smaller scale in comparison to the expressions of joy for the approval of the law. Here are some examples:

No tengo nada en contra de la union del mismo sexo, pero les recuerdo que Dios creo al hombre y a la mujer para que formen una familialess than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone

I have nothing against the union of same-sex couples, but let me remind you that God created man and woman for a reason, so that they could make a family.

Argentina se convierte en el Primer Pais Latino y Suramericano en aprobar la Legalidad del Matrimonio Gay en un Codigo Civil… Que asco!less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Argentina becomes the first Latin and South American country to approve the legality of gay marriage in the civil code…. How disgusting!

Since the law was approved just hours ago, there are not many published blog entries on the topic, but you can read some positive reactions here: Es la gente, estúpido [es]; Artepolítica [es]; 100 Volando [es], y Hernán Haines [es].

With the initial sanction from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate's decision, a strong debate was sustained by members of organizations such as the Catholic Church who protested against egalitarian marriage and, based on particular religious beliefs, claimed the continuity of laws that implied discrimination. These groups gathered 50 to 60 thousand people in a manifestation that took place last July 13. You can read some opinions from this position, here: Argentavis [es] y Baradero Hoy [es]

The thumbnail in this post is “March in favor of the Law on Gay Marriage in Argentina” from Flickr user Globovisión used under a Creative Commons license.

5 comments

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.