Congratulations y'all

Good.

Giving same-sex couples equal rights is a good thing. Well done Argentina.

As it happens I personally think that marriage - gay or straight - is an outdated concept which no longer has any place in the modern world outside its religious context. I cannot understand anyone who is not deeply religious wanting to get married.

I suspect that marriage was a social/economic contract long before a religious one, and that - to me - is its continued relevance, especially to couples intending to rear children or otherwise change lifestyle as a result of being together.

Also, a big party and a pretty dress.

@ Jamie: If you're talking semanthics, then I agree, we shouldn't still be talking about marriage in 2010.

If you're talking about the rights and obligations marriage brings, then I disagree.

Through marriage, couples can:

1 - Be the legitimate, no doubt about it, person who will inherit his/her couple's possesions.
2 - Share whatever medical insurance his/her couple has.
3 - Be the one to take medical or financial desitions for your couple if he/she can't take them.

I think those things are important. We had a notorious case some years ago, where a gay person became ill and fell into a coma. He had been neglected by his family for being gay, and he had lived with his couple for over 10 years. When he was in the coma, his family went to the Hospital and demanded rights over his medical treatment and possesions, and it was given to them. They wouldn't even allow his couple to be in his hospital bedroom.

@Jamiet - half of the people get married because the other half insists on it :)

It's not a religious ritual btw (even if it takes place in a Church) - it's a tradition that has been around longer than most (if not all) currently existing religions.

Well done Argentina! Very impressive for a Latin America country to pass such a law.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of marriage and I don't know if I will ever pursue it, but if the government insists on being the legal recognizer of (romantic?) unions, at least it ought to be consistent in that recognition.

Also, does Argentina not make a distinction between 'marriage' and 'civil unions' like some other countries do? I am pretty sure those rights apply to common law, civil uion, etc. couples here (in Canada) regardless of whether a marriage license has been officiated or not.


In any case, congrats to the queers of the Silver Nation!! :)

Well, if the reputation of Buenos Aires is anything to go by, the fact that Argentina is the most progressive South American country on the subject of gay rights is no surprise! ;)

@FS: I'm not entirely certain on the fine print, but we basically have "Concubinato", wich basically means you're living together with someone, Civil Union, and then marriage, each granting more rights and obligations than the last.

Wow, that is interesting that the Spanish word for common-law is nearly the same concubinage. ^^

Quite the different implication in English, though I suppose historically it would have been identical.

Marriage obsolete? I disagree entirely. Think of it as formally teaming up with someone.

As a diplomacy player I'm sure you'd understand the value of a written contract to that effect.