Judge bars same-sex 'marriage' from taking place in Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec 2, 2009 / 12:15 pm

A federal judge in Buenos Aires has barred same-sex “marriage” from taking place in the Argentinean capital this week, overturning a decision by a lower court judge who had previously ruled it to be unconstitutional to prohibit marriage between two persons of the same sex.

Judge Martha Gomez Alsina ruled that the lower court judge did not have the jurisdiction to rule on the country’s Civil Code, which states that marriage is a contract between one man and one woman.

The lower court ruling had struck down two articles of the Civil Code as unconstitutional for prohibiting marriage between two persons of the same sex. Judge Gomez suspended the ruling until further review.

Lawyers appealing the lower court decision said they were driven by “the concern of many married couples that two men were going to be allowed to marry, and thus the foundations of an institution that forged the greatness of Argentina...would be destroyed.”

“We want to be clear that this is not a religious issue.  The civil institution of marriage is not the result of some lawmaker 100 years ago.  Lawmakers then simply recognized what common sense, history and nature tell us about what is best for the good of a society: that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and that this was the foundation of the Argentinean family.”

The Arcbhishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, recently commented on the unease Catholics felt over the failure of the Buenos Aires government to appeal the initial ruling, saying the government officials “failed gravely in their duty as leaders.”