After an appeal by FALGBT, the City of Buenos Aires authorizes marriage equality for tourists

With Resolution 99/2012, the Deputy Attorney General of the City of Buenos Aires, Javier Buján, granted a request by la Federación Argentina de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales, y Trans (FALGBT) to permit the marriage between foreign individuals as it is laid down in the Constitution of Argentina. Congresswoman María Rachid of Buenos Aires had introduced a bill to that effect in April.

La Federación Argentina de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales, y Trans hails the decision of the municipality of Buenos Aires to eliminate the administrative obstacles that prevented the marriage between two foreigners, a right guaranteed in Article 20 of the Constitution. Thus, the City of Buenos Aires has become the fourth district in the country to authorize such marriages after the provinces of Santa Fe (where Paraguayan activists Simón Cazal and Sergio López were married), Tierra del Fuego, and Buenos Aires. Australian activists Alex Greenwich and Victor Höld were just married this past Friday in the latter province.  These advances arise as a result of FALGBT's "Marriage Equality in Argentina for Every Couple in the World" campaign, through which we aim to extend the benefits of the Argentine marriage equality law to the entire planet, giving a boost to the campaigns for equality in other countries. It is in accordance with, in any case, the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Argentina and international human rights treaties incorporated after the constitutional reform of 1994. Under the resolution, a certified copy of a passport or an immigration document indicating residence and length of stay shall be admitted as proof of temporary residence. The conditions are similar to those required by the other districts and to the proposals of a bill introduced in April by María Rachid, a legislator representing Buenos Aires. "With the marriage between tourists in the City of Buenos Aires, a new phase begins. More and more will come to Argentina to enjoy the rights that are not recognized in their countries, and they will then be able to seek the recognition of their unions by judicial means. We welcome the decision by the municipality of Buenos Aires to guarantee the recognition of these rights and promote equality from the capital of our country to the rest of the world," said Esteban Paulón, president of FALGBT. Alejandro Nasif Salum, Secretary of International Relations at FALGBT, stated: "We now hope that the rest of the provinces in the country progress in the same way and indeed progress into one standard on the national level that bypasses the discretion of government officials in the exercise of a right entitled to all men and all women of the world as laid down in our Constitution,"  "We are very happy to continue exporting rights and equality and we will continue working along these lines because the progress made in our country strongly compel us to achieve equality around the world," concluded Paulón.