MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gay Marriage Bill: Argentine Church to Lobby More “Conservative” Senate

Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio

The Argentine Catholic Church said that the Lower House ruling that approved the bill to legalize same-sex marriage is “very serious”. The Church, through its spokespersons, said that the bill “does not constitute any kind of progress” and that “it could revolutionize the concept of society and of family.”

Spokespersons also said that the “strategy” of the Catholic hierarchy will be to put a break on the Senate, where a strong conservative tendency prevails, as opposed to the Lower House. Bishop Antonio Marino—a member of the Argentine Episcopal Conference—said that he was hopeful that the voting process in the Senate “could be a bit more difficult” when it comes to approving the bill.

“This is cultural and conceptual revolution with which the Church is not in agreement,” he said. Marino is in charge of the legislative affairs within his organization. He went on to say that the “worst possibility for the Church is that these (homosexual) couples may be able to adopt children.”

Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio would have accepted homosexual marriage as long as it did not allow adoption, according to sources close to the Argentine cardinal. Marino said that allowing of adoption by homosexual couples “is denying scientific evidence and denying the child the right to grow up and develop psychologically and sexually, which requires the presence of a masculine and feminine” influence.

The bill was approved early Wednesday in the Lower House with 129 votes in favour, 109 against and 6 abstentions.

On a different note, María Rachid, head of the Argentine Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transvestites Federation, said that the passing of the bill is the product of “many years of working towards equality and construction of a better society.”