Guest Post: Lesbian Parenting in Argentina

Julieta Bonazza and AnalÃa Puntillo of In Tristitia Hilaris, In Hilaritate Tristis and Florencia Gemetro and Gabriela Bacin of Maternidades Lesbicas were kind enough to write a guest post for Mombian about lesbian parenting in Argentina. ¡Muchas gracias! Many thanks!

Becoming parents as a project for lesbian couples is relatively new in Argentina. Our families are still not recognized by the law, adoption is practically impossible and if we actually get to adopt only one of the two moms would be legally recognized as such. Since there aren’t any regulations regarding access to assisted reproduction it’s possible for us to have kids by these means even though the only legal mother is the one that carries the baby.

Legal matters aside, last year we started a process to organize us as a group of lesbian moms and lesbian moms to be. The initiative is incipient but very promising. We get together periodically and are still getting to know each other while exchanging experiences and thinking how to take action to protect our kids.

In May 2008 the first National Meeting of Lesbian and Bisexual Women took place in Rosario, Argentina. Over 400 women attended this historical and refreshing event. Workshops gave us the opportunity to exchange information and experiences and to create common strategies in an organized manner. One of the themes of these workshops was “Family Diversity and Motherhood”. Over 50 women joined us in this workshop/debate table to talk about how protect our families and what we can do to fight for our rights. The need to open a space for us to exchange information and discuss matters related to lesbian parenting was established. We agreed to create a forum online and to plan national and regional meetings. We also exchanged thoughts and ideas on how to introduce our matters to the LGTTBI movement’s agenda.

One of the most important things that we accomplished in this gathering was the decision to unify our strategies to work on existing laws that may include LGTTBI families and projects to create new laws, presenting motherhood as a right for lesbians and taking legal action to protect the rights of our children.

The need to get shared custody for both moms and fight to modify adoption laws and marriage for the inclusion of the non-biological mother was highlighted and also, since there is a new law in our country regulating rights for children called “Childhood Law” ( http://www.infoleg.gov.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/110000-114999/110778/norma.htm ) we agreed to try to take part in the provincial committees to ensure our children’s issues are also included.

We also discussed strategies to protect our families with the legal means we already have (guardianships, contracts, agreements) and the importance of documenting the participation of both moms in raising the kids in case we need proof in the future.

With all these conclusions and with the purpose of unifying our efforts in the fight for the recognition of the rights we are denied, we agreed to get together periodically and went home, with the intention to keep working to promote social change.