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Forcing Same-Sex Marriage in Argentina

by Alejandro Bermudez 

Here’s a new word for your Spanish vocabulary: homonomio.

Even in a country where matrimonio – marriage – is so deeply hardwired as an institution that unites one man with one woman, the common language has already coined a new word for same-sex marriage, which was recently approved in the Argentinean Senate and signed into law by President Cristina Kirchner.

The word homonomio has only recently come into existence in the Spanish language. I believe it will take a long time before the Royal Academy of Language, the 500-year-old Spanish institution that writes the rules for Spanish, accepts it as probationary word.

With this new word, however, comes the puzzlement and anger Argentineans are feeling after the legalization of gay marriage in the country.

First, let’s remove some of the myths I have seen flying around in the English-speaking press.

Homonomio is anything but popular in the country.  A poll taken by the independent pollster Infobae on July 21 asked Argentineans if they agree with the approval of the law. Nineteen percent said yes, while a whopping 81 percent said no. The two percent margin of error is, obviously, irrelevant.

Part of the reason why homonomio is so unpopular is because of the raw political power used in the Senate by President Kirchner’s loyalists to pass a law without a majority – after months of maneuvering and waiting for the most pro-family congressmen to be absent, the lower chamber drafted a bill proposing gay marriage’s legalization.

The bill was supposed to go to a Senate committee presided over by pro-family leader Liliana Negre. Negre, who traveled throughout Argentina for several months discussing the issue in town halls and focus groups, was convinced Argentineans were not only largely opposed to legalizing homonomio, but had very intense feelings about the need to preserve traditional marriage.

Yet in a complex political maneuver to avoid the bill ending in Negre’s committee, a bicameral commission passed three different bills: one supporting a limited version of gay marriage, one proposing a law of civil unions, and a minority bill proposing full gay marriage. Once in the Senate, in a sheer, irregular act of raw political force, the Kirchner block struck down the civil unions bill, forcing a vote between the remaining two.

At this point, seeing that the government was posed to force its will over the people’s, Argentina’s Catholic bishops convoked a massive march to support traditional marriage. About 200,000 people from all over the country responded, gathering in Buenos Aires’ Congress Square and remaining there until midnight on July 13.

The number of protesters was confirmed by the local police; nevertheless, I was surprised to listen to a BBC dispatch claiming that the protesters only numbered 5,000.

On July 14, the pro-gay marriage block had to overcome one crucial hurdle: they just did not have the votes. It was again the time for ruthless politics. President Kirchner decided to “invite” to her trip to China two of the most pro-marriage senators, Ana Rosa del Valle Itúrrez and Marina Riofrío as part of an official mission.

The Argentinean expression “sending you to China” means to blow you away. It this case, it was literal.

A significant number of pro-marriage senators were also absent from the vote, having been listed as “sick” by the speaker. According to Carlos Polo, Latin America director for the Population Research Institute, it was the head of Kirchner’s political block, Senator Miguel Pichetto, who personally requested them to stay at home “sick.”

No one knows what threats or enticements were used to convince so many senators to stay away from the vote, but neither are such episodes rare in Argentina’s politics.

Finally, the law was approved, 33-27. Three of the most vocal pro-marriage senators had to be escorted out by police, since the majority leaders did not order a clearing of the chamber’s galleries – as regulations and common decency would require – despite the massive presence of gay rights protesters threatening the pro-family crowd.

Yet for Argentineans, the fight is far from over. A good example of how they feel may be my good friends from Mendoza (Argentina’s wine country), Alejandro and Marina Osta. Looking way too young to be parents of six children, the Ostas led the Mendoza delegation to the July 13 protest in Buenos Aires.

After almost 48 total hours on a bus to and from the pro-family demonstrations in Buenos Aires, only to learn upon arriving back in Mendoza that the Senate had betrayed them, the Ostas feel anything but defeated.

“This is the time to stand up, to make our voices heard, to defend the true values that make Argentina great,” Marina wrote me.

She was certainly disgusted by the how the ruling party and major media outlets had ruthlessly acted to pass gay marriage over the will of the people. I did not have the stomach to tell her how the international media whitewashed the real story of how homonomio became law in Argentina.

The Ostas and many others have learned a lesson: Even if this is an issue supported by the majority of the country, the cultural and political battle against the political elites is uphill. As Catholics, they have no other plans but to study their options, organize politically and legally, and to do all of this honestly and fairly. But honesty and fairness is not something they can expect from the other side.

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(The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.)