Bishops Claims Fail to Derail Marriage Equality in Uruguay

[cbayer]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/petermontgomery/6691/marriage_equality_advances_in_uruguay__mexico___/


December 11, 2012 11:30pm
Post by PETER MONTGOMERY

On Tuesday night, the House of Deputies in Uruguay voted overwhelmingly in favor of marriage equality. The marriage equality bill is also expected to pass the Senate easily; President Jose Mujica has pledged to sign it into law. Uruguay will soon join Argentina, which legalized marriage between same-sex couples in 2010.

As in Argentina, marriage equality advanced in Uruguay over the objections of the Catholic hierarchy. Bishop Jaime Fuentes said last month, in language that will be familiar to marriage equality advocates in the U.S., that “children have a right to be raised by a father and mother, by birth or adoption”:

“It seems logical that two people of the same sex who care for each other and want to share their lives together can have some sort of civil acknowledgement, but it can’t be the same as what governs marriage,” Fuentes said. “Giving this kind of union the same obligations and rights as marriage would represent serious discrimination against a married man and woman.”

But the Catholic hierarchy has less influence in Uruguay than in neighboring states. CNN in October called Uruguay “the current standard-bearer on progressive policies on the continent” after the legislature voted to legalize first-trimester abortions.

Marriage equality also won a victory in Mexico this month, though it may take a while before the impact of the ruling is felt throughout the country. Last week, the Supreme Court of Mexico ruled in favor of three same-sex couples who challenged the constitutionality of the marriage ban in the state of Oaxaca; marriage equality is already the law in Mexico City.

more at link

[okasha]

1. This is gratifying.

Funny how these so-called "third world" countries are way ahead of the alleged Leaders of the Free World. Of course, much of South America has unpleasant recent memories of dictatorship, and this is probably part of the equal and opposite reaction against the likes of Galtieri, Pinochet and company.

[cbayer]

2. I think some countries are just less sexually repressed than the US as well.

And many aboriginal cultures have longstanding traditions of GLBT inclusion.

[okasha]

3. I think you're probably right on the first statement

and absolutely right on the second.

Many, many years ago, my then-Baptist mother wouldn't allow me to go to Mexican movies because they dealt frankly with extra- and pre- marital affairs.

And the necklines on the actresses' dresses! Horrors! All the way past the collarbone and headed south!