Argentina Lower House Passes Marriage Equality Bill

By a vote of 125-109 the Argentine House of Deputies has passed a bill legalizing marriage equality in the South American nation. Latino LGBT Blogger Andrés Duque has the details:

The vote followed more than 11 hours of debate on the House floor and counted with the support of members of the Socialist Party as well as supporters of the Cristina Férnandez de Kirchner government [Deputies were freed by their parties to "vote their conscience" earlier in the day].

To become law, the Argentinean Senate would first have to debate and approve the bill. Getting a bill approved by the Senate is expected to be a much tougher challenge for marriage equality advocates although the House vote pushes the issue to the front and it is now expected that a Senate vote might come within weeks.

Five same-sex couples have been granted the right to marry in Argentina, including Alex Freyre and José María Di Bello, who married on December 28th and became have the first same-sex couple to ever marry in all of Latin America. But their marriage, which was later annulled, came through victories in the courts. Of those initial five marriages, only two are left standing with any validity.

The times they are a changin'!

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God.