Argentina Legalizes Gay Marriage!

Argentina passed a same sex marriage bill early this morning with a 33-27 vote, becoming the first Latin American country to gain marriage equality. President Cristina Kirchner released a statement in favor of the bill.

Now 12 countries on 4 continents have gay marriage!

The Argentine law changes the legal code from husband and wife to "the marrying parties." Same-sex couples will have the same rights as heterosexuals in terms of adoptions, social security and family time.

Nearly 70 percent of Argentines are in favor of giving gays and lesbians the same marital rights as heterosexuals, but the Catholic Church opposed the bill, and the LDS church from the U.S. also got involved.

"They are portraying this as a religious moral issue and as a threat to 'the natural order,' when what we are really doing is looking at a reality that is already there," said President Kirchner. "It would be a terrible distortion of democracy if they denied minorities their rights."

The House passed the marriage bill in May, and the Senate debated it for almost 15 hours before voting. Around midnight Alaska time, gay Latino blogger Blabbeando tweeted from the east coast:

"MARRIAGE EQUALITY IS LAW IN ARGENTINA 33-27 FUCKYES!!!!"

He also translated this sweet gay marriage ad from the LGBT Federation of Argentina, with the tag line "The Same Love, The Same Rights, With The Same Name."

Freedom to Marry, a U.S. group working for marriage equality, issued this statement:

"Today's historic vote shows how far Catholic Argentina has come, from dictatorship to true democratic values, and how far the freedom to marry movement has come as twelve countries on four continents now embrace marriage equality. Argentina's vote for the freedom to marry marks an important advance for fairness and family values as more couples around the world will now share in marriage, with families helped and no one hurt. Today's vote adds momentum to the international movement to secure the freedom to marry for all loving and committed couples."

"Key to Argentina's human rights achievement was strong leadership from legislators and the president. It is time we see more of our own elected officials standing up for the Constitution and all families here in the United States. America should lead, not lag, when it comes to treating everyone equally under the law."