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Rainbow Row
 Sean Goforth - Foreign Policy Blogs
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January 02, 2010
 |  | We win this round... Now the rainbow is here. You know when we say ‘Somewhere over the rainbow.’ It’s here! It’s in Buenos Aires.
- Alex Freyer |  | | |
The twilight of 2009 gave cause to celebrate for gay rights activists in Latin America. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Mexico City ten days ago to campaigners’ chants of “yes we can.” In a separate motion the city assembly also sanctioned adoption by gay couples. Then, in Ushuaia, Argentina’s southernmost city, Alex Freyer and José María di Bello exchanged vowels, becoming the first gay couple to marry in Latin America.
Alex and José’s story was poignantly covered on PRI’s The World, and bears repeating. Each man is a noted human rights campaigner, and each is HIV-positive. Their battle to be married was meant not only as “a romantic proposal” but a “political proposal” too, according to Alex. After originally being told “no” when they applied for a marriage license in the Argentine capital, the men sued, claiming violation of their constitutional rights. A judge ruled in their favor. The couple was originally slated for a Buenos Aires wedding on December 1, but a higher-level court nixed the ceremony at the last minute. Their dream was finally realized on December 28.
Should Argentina legalize same-sex marriage, Uruguay, which became the first nation in the region to legalize same-sex civil unions in 2007 and adoption by gay couples in September, would likely follow suit. Chile probably wouldn’t be far behind. Alex thinks Buenos Aires could start it all: “We win this round…Now the rainbow is here. You know when we say ‘Somewhere over the rainbow.’ It’s here! It’s in Buenos Aires.” By the end of 2010 the Southern Cone could form a rainbow row of countries that permit same-sex couples to marry, and possibly adopt.
Activists are hoping that just such a domino effect will transform the region. Editorial pages in Chile asked when that nation would approve gay marriage. Amidst the tumult of Alex and José’s fight, on December 23 ten same-sex couples in Rosario, Argentina, filed legal motions demanding the right to marry. Unfortunately for likeminded same-sex partners in Argentina, the December 28 ceremony does not set legal precedent - the state governor issued the couple a special decree.
Constitutions and the Catholic Church pose significant barriers to a watershed of same-sex marriages in the region. In Mexico, social liberalization in the capital has, so far, engendered sweeping conservative backlash. Take abortion. In 2007, Mexico City moved to allow elective abortion. The past two years have seen a slew of abortion bans, spanning 17 of 32 Mexican states, many of which are more punitive to women than pre-existing prohibitions. Now a nationwide abortion ban is in the offing. That’s because amendments to the Mexican Constitution can be proposed by individual states. If an amendment passes Congress, support by a simple majority of states will make it law. Armando Martínez, head of Mexico’s Catholic Lawyers College, forecasts a similar pushback “because Mexican culture is not ready for these things and they [the city assembly] can release a level homophobia that no one will be able to stop.” Mexico City taking a step forward in ’09 could mean Mexico taking two steps back this year, or next.
Legal options offer more hope in Argentina - civil unions have been permitted in Buenos Aires since 2002 - but mores are much the same as in Mexico, and elsewhere.
And the issue of adoption by gay couples remains prickly. While the news of Mexico City’s legalization was met with the predictable array of hysteria and ho-hums, public opinion in Mexico seems decidedly opposed to adoption by gay couples. The comment page of Mexico City’s leading daily, El Universal, registered over 1,000 entries for its story on same-sex marriage and adoption, most vociferously opposed to the adoption measure. Isaac Villa, a 35-year-old taxi driver in the capital told TIME, “If two men want to be together, that is their decision. But adopting children is a different story.” Another resident said, “Children growing up in a gay marriage would be traumatized.”
In my view, activists must hone their political tactics. The headlong charge for marriage, and adoption, is likely to disaffect droves. Latin America is (nominally, at least) the most religious region on earth; most nations are 90% Roman Catholic, and the silent majority remains conservative on social issues. Acceptance of homosexuality is increasing in the region - according to Latinobarómetro, those who would not like to have homosexuals as neighbors has dropped from 59% in 1995 to 29% in 2009 - but only from a very high level of homophobia. Despite evidence of increasing social tolerance, the Catholic Church still exerts huge sway.
Civil unions can offer the meat and potatoes of the m-word while treading lightly on the hollowed ground associated with it. Recognizing this, activists should seek to extend the rights of civil unions enjoyed in certain cities nationwide. Doing so would also lay the legal foundation for more progressive legal challenges. This incremental view is bound to annoy, but is an important and meaningful half step.
Latin America is unlikely to host a rainbow row in the near term. Perhaps we are witnessing a chasm emerge between the more progressive capitals - Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City - and the flinty heartlands. Regardless, one thing seems certain: as empowered activists face off against the vanguard of traditional values, there is sure to be a major row over the rainbow.
Sean H. Goforth teaches world politics and international political economy at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2005), where he received the Julia Crane Award for most promising undergraduate research on Latin America and was elected a Junior Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. In 2007, he completed his master’s degree at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he was awarded a Frank Fund Award for the study of democracy. Sean’s research focuses primarily on US-Latin American relations, Latin American political economy and international trade. Email: sgoforth(at)email.unc.edu |
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