- Title: ARGENTINA: Gay parade in Beunos Aires.
- Date: 9th November 2009
- Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (NOVEMBER 7, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED FOR GAY PRIDE MARCH IN BUENOS AIRES' PLAZA DE MAYO, MANY WATCHING MUSICAL SHOW VARIOUS OF SPANISH TOURIST POSING WITH TWO TRANSVESTITES PEOPLE TAKING PART IN MARCH BANNER READING: "Marriage now". PRESIDENT OF GAY RIGHTS GROUP "ARGENTINA'S HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY" (CHA), CESAR CIGLIUTTI TALKIN
- Embargoed: 24th November 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA28KTC9YAGK69A2T2JROHXYA1N
- Story Text: Argentina's gay community marches to congress as it calls for an end discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Several hundred members of Argentina's gay community marched through Buenos Aires on Saturday (November 7) calling for equal rights and an end to discrimination on the basis if sexuality.
The march, which began at the Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo and continued to Congress, was organised by a number of the country's activist groups including Argentina's Homosexual Community, or CHA.
CHA President Cesar Cigliutti, compared the right to hay marriage to the end of the authoritarian rule of Spain's General Franco.
"For us, having (the right to) marriage is like what happened in Spain. In terms of culture, it is a before and an after, and this is not only for our community but for society in general," said Cigliutti.
"Here there is a question of whether we are in a secular state, in a democratic state, and what we have to decide is if we are going to continue discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation or sexual identity. This is the only discussion there should be at a judicial or constitutional level," added CHA legal coordinator Pedro Paradiso.
In 2008, Argentina granted gays the right to inherit a partner's pension if they are widowed, extending a benefit that straight couples have long enjoyed.
Argentina is one of several countries moving to bolster gay rights in Latin America, home to about half the world's Roman Catholics, despite church opposition to same-sex unions.
Buenos Aires became the first city in Latin America to allow homosexual couples to join in "civil unions" in 2003. Mexico City eventually followed suit and Uruguay passed a nationwide law to that effect late last year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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