MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gay Marriage Bill Approved in Argentine Lower House: Good Chances in the Senate

Argentina's lower house passed on early Wednesday after twelve hours of debate a gay marriage bill that will now be considered by the Senate. If approved, Argentina will be among a handful in the world that allows homosexual couples to marry.

Small groups of gay rights supporters and opponents of the gay marriage bill gathered outside the Argentine Congress, where deputies approved the measure with 125 votes in favour and 109 against. The Roman Catholic Church—strong in Argentina—vehemently opposed the legislation. However, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has promised not to veto the measure if it reaches her desk.

“Love isn't owned by heterosexuals,” said Deputy Felipe Solá, who backed the bill. “If we're all equal before the law, why do we want to give a different name to unions between same-sex couples?”

Gay rights activist Esteban Paulón called the process “historic”: the first time a gay marriage initiative has been debated in a national legislature in Latin America. The bill permits gay couples to adopt children for the first time, one of its most controversial provisions.

If the law is finally passed by the upper house, Argentina would be the first country in predominantly Roman Catholic Latin America to allow same-sex marriages. Neighbouring Uruguay grants extensive rights, including adoptions, to gay couples in civil unions but does not allow them to marry. Mexico City is the only other place in Latin America where gays have the same marriage and adoption rights as heterosexual couples.

”We've talked to the heads of the political blocs (in the Senate) and the majority are in favour of this, so we think we could get a favourable vote in the Senate as well,” according to Maria Rachid president of the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals.

Buenos Aires is known among foreign tourists as being gay friendly, with some bars, hotels and shops catering to that clientele. Five gay Argentine couples have already married in recent months after local judges authorized the ceremonies. But some of them were declared void by other magistrates.

In Congress, the different parties and factions gave their members freedom to vote how they wanted on the marriage bill. Deputies from the whole political arch extending from the ruling coalition to opposition groups supported the bill.