I don’t know about you, but I’m still basking in the glow of Thursday’s marriage equality victory in Argentina. The icing on the cake for me was to hear President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner strongly and directly describe the history of civil marriage in Argentina, and repudiate the dangerous crusade-like language so often employed when the civil rights of LGBT people are up for a vote. Considering the shameless kowtowing to radical-right religious conservatism by many politicians in the USA, I thought this video worthy of its own post. As my teachers used to say, “Class, compare and contrast!”.
Thanks to Andrés over at Blabbeando for translating & transcribing the video:
“To begin with, I am a bit surprised about the tone, the tenor, and the content the dialogue has taken. The truth is that it’s worrisome to listen to expressions such as ‘God’s Battle’, ‘The Work of the Devil’, things which actually bring us back to the times of the Inquisition, to Medieval times, it seems to me. Particularly coming from those who should promote peace, tolerance, diversity and dialogue. Or at least that’s what they’ve always said in their statements. And all of a sudden [we have] this aggressive language, this dismissive language invoking ‘natural law’ arguments…
…and to bring it back to our own history, when the civil code was approved, Velez Sarsfield takes – just as he took from the Roman and French civil codes in his notes about different laws – he takes ‘marriage’ from Canon law. That’s why they could only get married through the church! There was no possibility, in Argentina, for people to get married in a civil registry.”
Full Story from Pam’s House Blend
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