politics | LGBT news in South America

ARGENTINA: New Voice for Sexual Minorities

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 26 (IPS) - A monthly magazine published by an Argentine umbrella group of some thirty organisations of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans (LGBTs) seeks to become a major communications channel for the community and an instrument for disseminating the actions that sexual minorities undertake to defend their rights.

"The Pride March (Argentina's annual LGBT celebration organised since 1992) is a big part of us, but it doesn't cover all of our community. There are lesbians with no visibility and transgender women who have fought for years to have their identity recognised," Mónica Ferrari, editor-in-chief of the just-released monthly publication Queer, which is distributed free of charge, told IPS.

The magazine is the official voice of the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans (FALGBT) and has a circulation of 15,000 copies in print and a summarised version online. The name Queer was chosen because of its connection to a theory of diversity that sees sexual identity as constructed socially and not determined by biology.

The magazine had already appeared for a few years but was forced out of circulation in 2002 due to lack of funding. Queer's original editor-in-chief and founder was FALGBT's current president, María Rachid, who has now supported this new edition.

"Queer was meant as a way of bringing us closer to our organisations, to communicate with them and convey to them how we're doing, what we need, and what we can do to fulfil our needs," Rachid said at the publication's presentation. "We have a lot of challenges ahead of us." MORE

COLOMBIA: Equal Rights for Same-Sex Partners

BOGOTA, Mar 2 (IPS) - Members of the gay civil rights advocacy group Colombia Diversa just celebrated their fifth anniversary with a big event, which the occasion clearly merited due to a recent landmark decision by the Constitutional Court recognising equal rights for heterosexual and same-sex partners in common-law unions.

With the ruling, the Court took a historic leap with regard to the rights of gays and lesbians, granting same-sex partners all of the guarantees and benefits offered to unmarried heterosexual couples, except adoption, and placing Colombia at the forefront in Latin America in terms of legal recognition of the rights of gays and lesbians.

Marcela Sánchez, a lesbian activist who heads Colombia Diversa, told IPS that the legal decision handed down by the Court in late January marked the end of a long battle for equal rights for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community.

It also expanded on earlier legal decisions issued by the Court in 2007 and 2008, which extended several common-law marriage property and inheritance rights, as well as social security and health insurance rights, to same-sex couples.

"Uruguay was the first country in the region to recognise the rights of homosexual couples, but overall, the Uruguayan law grants fewer rights than those now covered by Colombia’s legislation," said Sánchez.
"Argentina, Mexico and Brazil also recognise rights for gays and lesbians, but with differences between states, or limited to specific sectors, such as public employees," she added. MORE