International Influence, Domestic Activism, and Gay Rights in Argentina

In July 2010, Argentina became the first nation in Latin America, and only the second one in the developing world after South Africa, to pass a law legalizing same-sex marriage; shortly thereafter, the country enacted what is arguably the most progressive transgender law of any country in the world. It allows for a change of gender without undergoing surgery or receiving authorization from a doctor or a judge. Both laws have put Argentina in a select group of nations regarded as being on the cutting edge of gay rights and atop international rankings of countries most open to issues of concern to the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) community, such as the recently developed 'Gay Friendliness Index.' Neither societal factors nor political conditions could have predicted this cascade of gay rights advances. Adapted from the source document.