The freedom to marry and Argentine politics

July 22, 2010

Posted by Thomas Dollar on fivethirtyeight.com:

"The Argentine Senate voted 33-27 last Thursday to allow the freedom to marry, making Argentina the first Latin American country to provide full marriage equality. The House of Deputies had already passed the bill (by a vote of 125-109), and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will sign it on Wednesday.

"As Nate’s graph shows, the number of countries with legalized marriage equality is slowly but steadily ticking upward. No longer is it unique to the stereotypically liberal Benelux and Scandinavian countries. Spain, Portugal and Argentina--Catholic countries with histories of right-wing, military dictatorships--now permit gay couples to wed. Polls show 70% of Argentines favoring the new law.

... "By portraying herself as the champion of progressive social values, President Fernández hopes to appeal to wealthier, socially liberal voters in metro Buenos Aires, who largely abandoned the FpV in the 2009 midterms. This self-portrayal got a tremendous boost from the Catholic Church, which was the most vocal opponent of the freedom to marry. The archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, called the bill the devil's work, and organized a mass demonstration in opposition. Opponents argued that this was an example of Buenos Aires imposing its decadent, city values on the 'real Argentina' of farms and villages. (Sound familiar?) The opposition also made an appeal to the children: Catholic schools in Buenos Aires dismissed pupils early the day before the vote, and encouraged them to rally at the Capitol in favor of 'one mom and one dad' families.

"This overt ecclesiastical pressure probably backfired. Argentina is a secular state, and past Church interference in civic affairs has bred a strong current of anti-clericalism. As in Spain, the Church hierarchy has been tainted by its complicity in the repression of dissidents under the former military regime. (Many individual priests and nuns, however, preached resistance through Liberation Theology.) Having Cardinal Bergoglio as the frontman for opposition to marriage equality conjured up these bad memories.

"Thus, the vote in the Senate became not only a question of whether to honor the freedom to marry, but also of whether the civilian government could make decisions without Church interference. This rigged the deck in the Kirchners' favor. While the vast majority of Argentines self-identify as Catholic, only a quarter report attending any weekly religious services--a rate considerably lower than in some other countries that allow marriage equality.

... "In the end, the Kirchners' gambit paid off. While it remains to be seen whether they gain or lose anything from this legislation, they have recently enjoyed a resurgence in opinion polls. Thanks to their pushing, Argentina showed its socially liberal side, and Nate's rainbow graph got another, 40-million-person bar."

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