Fundamentalism in Motion

JUAN MARCO VAGGIONE

New York

Congreso; The Traffic in Policy: Religion, Sexuality and the State; 2010

New York University

In July 2010 Argentina modified its civil code to grant same-sex couples the right to marriage. The possibility of this right, as well as the majority of sexual and reproductive rights, brings into focus the complex articulation between religion and politics in contemporary democracies. The major religions have a long history in the regulation of sexual order, and they obviously constitute one of the most robust obstacles to legal reform. In Latin America, the Catholic Church has played a historical role in the regulation of affective and sexual relations. In Argentina, for example, each modification of the laws governing matrimony has required vigorous defense by an autonomous state government willing to confront the lobbies and pressures of the Catholic hierarchy. This occurred at the end of the 19 century when marriage was secularized and the religious ceremony was distinguished from the civil one. It occurred again in the 20 century when divorce was legalized, and yet again last year when the Catholic hierarchy supported a model of marriage based on the complementarity of the sexes. The Catholic Church continues to be a crucial actor in politics in the region, and its forays into the political arena are at their most virulent when education or the family is at stake. It is not surprising, then, that the recognition of sexual and reproductive rights in Argentina is considered by many academics and activists to be a result of the secularization of the state, which provides an important space one that is autonomous from the Catholic hierarchy from which to legislate. In a place where the Catholic Church has played such a preponderant historical, cultural, and political role, the secular state emerges as a political platform for the democratization of sexuality. Without minimizing its importance, however, it is also necessary to reflect on other articulations of the religious and the political, which have characterized the debate over same-sex marriage in Argentina. The politicization of sexuality has diverse effects on the political forms that the religious acquires. The specific objective of this essay is to illuminate two specific interactions between religion and politics that are largely a result of the impact of the feminist movement and the movement for sexual diversity.