Leading Latin America in the push for gay rights

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Source: Global Post

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — There were rose petals and rice on the ground in front of the civil registry in Buenos Aires. But in the end they weren't for Alex Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello, the gay couple hoping to achieve Latin America's first same-sex marriage.

On the eve of their wedding day last week, a national judge overturned a city court decision to issue them a marriage license. The couple came to the registry anyway, vowing not to leave until they were wed.

The issue of gay marriage is being discussed all over Argentina lately with the prospective wedding of Freyre and Di Bello. So how is it that Argentina — a country that strongly identifies with the Catholic Church and machismo culture — continues to lead Latin America in the push for gay rights?

Argentines, and the portenos of Buenos Aires in particular, are proud of their European roots. Spain is one of only seven countries in the world to allow gay marriage, but Italy with strong ties to the Catholic Church does not. The other six countries to legalize same sex marriage include European countries such as Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as Canada and South Africa.

Read more: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/argentina/091209/gay-marriage

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1. Argentina

Buenos Aires in particular and Argentina in general have huge problems generated by extreme poverty and millions living in precarious housing. Argentina offers some good programs (universal health coverage, universal pensions program, aid to families with dependents, universal education and voting, etc), but only to those who have a DNI, their citizenship. 12% of Argentine residents don´t have a DNI, despite the fact that many have lived in Argentina for 20, 30, 40 years or more. The horrendous living conditions in the ´Villas Miseria´ have fueled urban violence, murder and deliquency rarely seen even in Latin America. The reason for the popularity of and the push for gay rights here is that it won´t cost the government anything, and gives the Argentine Government an opportunity to pretend it´s part of the first world.