Out in the periphery

"Known around the world as a bastion of machismo and Catholicism, Latin America in recent decades has emerged as the undisputed gay rights leader of the Global South. More surprising yet, nations such as Argentina have surpassed more "developed" nations like the United States and many European states in extending civil rights to the homosexual population. Setting aside the role of external factors and conditions in pushing gay rights from the Developed North to the Global South--such as the internationalization of human rights norms and practices, the globalization of gay identities, and the diffusion of policies such as "gay marriage"--This study aims to "decenter" gay rights politics in Latin America by putting the domestic context front and center. The intention is not to show how the "local" has triumphed the "global" in Latin America, but rather to suggest how the domestic context has interacted with the outside world to make Latin America an unusually receptive environment for the development of gay rights. Of special attention to the study is the role of local gay rights organizations, a long-neglected social movement in Latin America, in filtering and adapting international gay rights ideas. Inspired by the outside world but firmly embedded in local politics, Latin American gay activists have succeeded in bringing radical change to the law with respect to homosexuality, and, in some cases, as in Argentina, in transforming society and the culture at large"--