Gay marriage, adoption rights open path to equality in Latin America

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published in “El Tiempo” of Bogota, Colombia (eltiempo.com) under the heading Poco a poco se abren paso las bodas gays en América Latina

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY – For the gay community, 2009 was a year of great advances in the fight for equal rights in a region where fierce resistance stems from a strong Catholic tradition.

With the celebration in Argentina of Latin America’s first gay marriage and the legalization of this type of wedding in Mexico City, the gay community closed the year with important advances in its fight for equal rights, this in open conflict with the strong tradition of Catholicism throughout the region.

The Argentine wedding took place just two days after the Mexico City’s legislative assembly approved December 21 a law that would allow gay couple to marry. That law becomes effective in Mexico in February.

Buenos Aires and Mexico City, as well as Uruguay and Colombia, already allow civil unions, but marriage among people of the same sex was not made legal in the region until now.

The controversy over gay marriage carries with it a debate over adoption rights for couples of the same sex.

Along these lines, this year there were advances in Uruguay. A new law passed to authorize adoption for gay couples while another passed which allows name and sex records to be changed.

In El Salvador, an attempt to expressly block gay marriages failed. While clauses that prohibit sexual discrimination were included in the constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador.

In Colombia, an ongoing judicial struggle indicates that couples of the same sex may win adoption rights, according to Germán Rincón, member of Colombia Diversa.

Even Cuba seems to have left marginalization behind and has raised the possibility of permitting legal unions and adoptions.

On the other hand, in Costa Rica the highest court rejected a plea to legalize gay unions. And in Peru, the government passed a new police law mandating severe sanctions for officers who are gay, because they affect the image of the institution.

Exodus from Buenos Aires to the Atlantic begins

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published Thursday December 31, 2009 in "Pagina/12" of Buenos Aires, Argentina (pagina12.com.ar) under the heading Comenzó el éxodo a la costa atlántica

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - By 8:00 a.m. today some 70 cars per minute were passing by the vehicular control post at kilometer 32 of the Gutiérrez spur of the Buenos Aires-La Plata expressway heading to state highway 2 and onward to the Atlantic coast.

“Fortunately, for the moment there haven’t been any accidents", said chief officer José Ruiz of the Buenos Aires highway patrol.

"Overall, traffic is flowing, and the only congestion is at the 20 kilometer marker of the Buenos Aires-La Plata expressway, in Quilmes”, he added.

Ruiz recalled that “during the whole day yesterday there was a great movement of vehicles heading toward the coast that only tapered off around midnight, but [this morning] between 4:30 and 5:00 it started to increase again”.

Busmen once again cut access to Escobar following the brutal attack of a driver

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published Thursday, December 10, 2009 in "La Nacion" (lanacion.com) under the heading Colectiveros vuelven a cortar accesos a Escobar tras el brutal asalto a un chofer

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - Busmen of Line 60 [in Buenos Aires Province] have decided to initiate a strike, cutting off service to certain bus routes in protest of a brutal attack on one of their coworkers whose finger was cut off during an early morning robbery attempt.

The driver’s coworkers this morning blocked transit on the northbound Pan-American Highway. The mobilization started at the Line 60 Terminal in the town of Ingeniero Maschwitz and headed toward Escobar [some 60 miles north of the capital]. Later, protesters blocked the entrance to Escobar’s town hall, causing some disorder, where they delivered a petition demanding heightened security.

Around noontime today, while attempting to call a meeting which they hoped city officials would attend, the drivers commenced another blockade. This time, the interruptions affected access to the Buenos Aires area: that of Garín (route 26) and the heart of the city (route 25). Access to the Inmigrantes bridge remained open.

The attack

Following the attack, the driver was helped by a family from the area, and then he was taken to the hospital in Escobar, where he received first aid. Later he was taken to a private clinic in the provincial division of Vincente Lopez, where he remains under observation.

The act occurred just after 4 a.m., when the driver, just a few meters before arriving at the terminal in the provincial division of Escobar, noticed two men on the bus who were apparently asleep.

After calling them several time from his seat and getting no response, the victim went to wake them up and one of the assailants took out a weapon concealed in his clothes and demanded that the driver return to the wheel and turn off the lights.

After beating him and demanding that he give them anything of value and the key to the bus’s ticket box, one of the criminals cut off the driver's finger, according to police sources.