This is possible because the Equal Marriage Law in force in Argentina is the only one in the world that is also applicable to all non-resident foreigners.

The Equal Marriage Law that governs Argentina has the particularity of being the only one in the world that is also applicable to all non-resident foreigners and, since its approval in 2010, "more than 400 couples of tourists got married in the country", affirmed from the FALGBT.

"As far as we had a record, there were more than 400 couples, a significant number," Paulón, executive director of the LGBT+ IPP and member of the FALGBT Board of Directors, told Télam when asked about the number of foreign couples who joined legally under the tutelage of Argentine law, enacted a little over 11 years ago.

In this framework, he also stressed that Argentina, also based on constitutional rights, is "the only country that allows marriage for non-resident foreigners."

Meanwhile, María Rachid, head of the Institute against Discrimination of the Ombudsman's Office in the City of Buenos Aires, maintained that the fact that the country recognizes this right to those who do not reside in its territory opens the possibility for foreigners to be able to claim "their right to marriage in their countries (of origin) based on international agreements that recognize the marriage celebrated" beyond their own borders.

The law, which made Argentina the first country in Latin America and tenth in the world to guarantee the right to marry same-sex couples under the same conditions as heterosexuals, also allows non-resident foreigners to marry. (tourists).

That was the case of Almendra Panaifo Ruíz and Luz Romero Dávila, natives of the Peruvian city of Iquitos, who got married on September 9, 2019, in the Civil Registry of Uruguay 753, in downtown Buenos Aires.

"We hadn't planned to get married but, as a result of the visit of a friend from Lima who told us about equal marriage in Argentina, we began to investigate and contacted the FALGTB, with whom we began to have communication and they sent us an email with the requirements," Luz said.

Back in his country, after his wedding, he noticed that "it had had a lot of repercussions (in Peru) and even a trans activist friend made a short film about his story."

"Many people from Peru also contact me to ask me and to have the information" to analyze the chance of getting married in Argentina, Luz remarked.

Meanwhile, Almendra, Luz's wife, said that they were able to achieve in Argentina "what the Peruvian State denies us so much."

He assured that the making of the short about his story seeks "a thirst for justice, to make the whole country see how important the laws are in all families, whether they are homosexual or heterosexual; because all families should have the same rights and benefits. that the State can give us without the need to go anywhere"

"Several activists from Lima have contacted us to take this to the facilities of the Government Palace, she pointed out and said that there are organizations that are making a book in which she participated called "More Equality" that wants to promote equal marriage in Peru. and they highlight "the problem, the need to have rights because they always make us invisible."

The story of Simón Cazal and Sergio López was well known when on March 23, 2012 they came from Paraguay to carry out the first egalitarian wedding of foreigners in Argentina, which was held at the Central Registry of Rosario, Santa Fe.

"We inaugurated the regulation of the law that we had fought with the FALGBT," said Simón, who is part of the Paraguayan organization SomosGay.

"In Paraguay, what we did was a judicial presentation to obtain the validation of the marriage that governs heterosexual marriages but that here was cut short because our government is militant of the thesis of Catholic domination, so they are in charge of having the entire judicial department blocked. so that no recognition of the right of any LGTB person is recognized, admitted, or initiated," Cazal explained.

In this sense, he added that "in this process, through an administrative agreement, they blocked the legalization of the marriage certificate of Argentina."

As for the changes since his wedding, he asserted that there were: "Here the subject was discussed and continues to be discussed, but Paraguay is the example of the negative impact that a neighboring country can have and everything that Argentina does radicalizes more to the conservative sectors that the government has".

"Those who don't care about human rights or social injustice," said Simón Cazal, while adding: "Beyond the social claim that the movement carries, and the attempts to present projects, unfortunately for the social climate here couldn't move forward."

"The impact was the undeniable presence of the issue for the government and in our case, our government, as it could not deny it, put the military against it," Simón said.

For him, "(Paraguayan) society is more advanced than the government and accepts, to a large extent, that equal marriage is legislated, but until something changes in the logic of the government, it will not happen."

The story of Juan José Zumaeta Inga and Johan Emanuel Salas Vásquez, meanwhile, is surrounded by violence, physical attacks and complaints of hate crimes in their native country, Peru.

After José was able to settle in the United States after applying for political asylum for hate crimes and settling in that country, it remained for Johan to be able to go with his partner.

"In contact with the FALGBT we found out that marriage for tourists was possible, we both traveled there and got married on March 5, 2019, impressed by all the facilities they gave us," said the couple.

Subsequently, "the fight for law in Peru was extremely complicated due to the pandemic, intolerance, politics and a hate campaign against the LGBT+ community; the country has not yet defined its political course and whoever will be president does not accept the inclusion of minorities," they assured.

At this point, they explained that "in the United States, due to the equal marriage that governs in Argentina, they are recognized, they have all the rights and getting married is a requirement to ask for the spouse and to be able to live protected by the law."

Likewise, the couple concluded: "Leaving Peru was our protection alternative after being together there, our lives were threatened with death on several occasions just for being different."

The strategy of LGBTIQ+ organizations to "export marriage equality"

The possibility of celebrating nuptials under the umbrella of the Equal Marriage Law, whose sanction marked 11 years in July 2021, opened the doors to the arrival in the country of foreign tourist couples who chose Argentina as a destination to comply with that goal and transformed the nation into an "exporter of equality", as highlighted by different organizations.

"Many couples came to Argentina to get married and we fulfilled one of the objectives that the Equal Marriage Law had for the FALGBT and for the government at that time: the possibility that Argentina, through marriage for tourists, would also export equality" said María Rachid, head of the Institute against Discrimination of the Ombudsman's Office in the City of Buenos Aires and member of the Board of Directors of the Argentine LGBT Federation.

In this sense, Esteban Paulón, executive director of the LGBT+ Public Policy Institute and member of the FALGBT, stated: "Being able to travel to a country that has the possibility of approving the law and celebrating marriage helps a lot sometimes for practical purposes such as the case of couples who were able to reunite the family through same-sex marriage in Argentina and in other cases, from a political position, to demand publicly and judicially that right that is not being recognized".

From the Federation they stressed that equal marriage for tourists comprises two aspects: "The obviously affective, sentimental and love side, which is super important and we also understand that marriage, in short, implies access to a certain amount of rights and a social consideration in relation to equal rights".

"If we have this right that we have conquered and we can share it, we have a moral obligation to share it because there are many people who are having a very bad time and, perhaps, this can save their lives or allow them to live a slightly better life."

You cannot think of "building an island of equality where we are comfortable living in a country that has all the rights with obvious difficulties, like any country with social and cultural issues, but with a lot of rights and not being moved by those places in which people like us and we are having a really bad time".

"It is important to note that Argentina, with equal marriage for tourists, took that first super important step"

The possibility of coming to Argentina to get married allowed many couples "to gain access to this recognition in their own countries and, ultimately, to live their lives according to what they felt and with the support of the State."

It is "one of the many forms that solidarity can take, where it is really important to highlight that Argentina, with equal marriage for tourists, took that first super important step."

Source: TÉLAM

https://www.telam.com.ar/notas/202107/561308-ley-matrimonio-igualitario-aniversario.ht