[Marxism] Argentina legalizes gay marriage

[Louis Proyect]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38251758/ns/world_news-americas/
Argentina legalizes gay marriage in historic vote
by MICHAEL WARREN

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina legalized same-sex marriage 
Thursday, becoming the first country in Latin America to grant 
gays and lesbians all the legal rights, responsibilities and 
protections that marriage brings to heterosexual couples.

After a marathon debate, 33 lawmakers voted in favor, 27 were 
against it and 3 abstained in Argentina's Senate in a vote that 
ended after 4 a.m. Since the lower house already approved it, and 
President Cristina Fernandez is a strong supporter, it now becomes 
law as soon as it is published in the official bulletin.

The law is sure to bring a wave of marriages by gays and lesbians 
who have increasingly found Buenos Aires to be more accepting than 
many other places in the region.

The approval came despite a concerted campaign by the Roman 
Catholic Church and evangelical groups, which drew 60,000 people 
to march on Congress and urged parents in churches and schools to 
work against passage.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio said "everyone loses" with gay 
marriage, and "children need to have the right to be raised and 
educated by a father and a mother."

Nine gay couples had already married in Argentina after persuading 
judges that the constitutional mandate of equality supports their 
marriage rights, but some of these marriages were later declared 
invalid.

As the debate stretched on for nearly 16 hours, supporters and 
opponents of held rival vigils through the frigid night outside 
the Congress building in Buenos Aires.