After 14 hours of debate, the Argentine Senate legalised same-sex marriage at 4am today as hundreds of opponents protested outside Congress in the bitter cold. Argentina is the first Latin American country to confer full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The final vote was 33-27, with three abstentions.

While poles show that 70 percent of Argentines favour same-sex marriage, analysts contend that the real reason for the bill’s passage was largely political. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was looking to prove her efficacy, rally her base and take a stand against the Catholic Church.

Kirchner, who is expected to sign the bill when she returns from a state visit to China, called the law “positive step that defends minority rights.”

The Catholic Church led the opposition, helping to organize thousands in coordinated marches in seven provinces on Tuesday.

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, called the law a “destructive attack on God’s plan” on Sunday.

Catholics within the Senate also promoted alternative legislation – civil unions that would not allow same-sex partners to adopt – that ultimately failed.

Mexico City legalised same-sex marriage in March, and Uruguay and Colombia permit civil unions.

The National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (Inadi) announced yesterday that a civil union law currently being debated in the Argentine senate would infringe civil rights and violate the country’s anti-discrimination laws, making it unconstitutional. Nine senators proposed the civil union law last week as an alternative to same-sex marriage, which they oppose.

Though Inadi’s decision is non-binding, it will be considered in upcoming debate in the senate, and can be used in future court cases should the civil union law pass. The group’s evaluation warned that the proposed legislation could lead to lawsuits against the state.

“Someone who suffers an act of discrimination can demand moral or material compensation,” Claudio Morgado, Inadi director, told the Buenos Aires newspaper Página 12. “It’s our job to prevent discriminatory acts.”

Inadi’s main objections to the proposed legislation were that it would not automatically give same-sex couples the same automatic access to social services that married persons receive; that it would prevent co-adoption; and that it would establish a “conscious objection” clause so that Civil Registry employees who oppose same-sex unions would not be required to grant them.

Civil unions have actually been legal in Argentina since 2002, but this new legislation would make them recognized in every province.

The proposed legislation was largely influenced by recommendations from the Catholic Church. After the Argentine senate began debating same-sex marriage on 1^st June, the Church recognized strong possibility that these marriages could become legal, and changed their tactic from outright opposition to favouring civil unions that would confer some rights to same-sex couples but specifically prohibit others. The biggest concern for Church leaders was preventing same-sex adoption, but they also strongly advocated the “conscious objection” clause.

But despite the introduction of the civil union ‘alternative’, Catholic, Evangelical, and other religious groups have organized rallies in seven provinces to protest same-sex marriage today.

In Buenos Aires, the protesters will march on the National Congress at 6:30pm, holding signs with the slogan “children have the right to a mom and dad”.

“It’s not against anyone, but rather in favour of marriage between one man and one woman, like the civil code establishes, and for the well-being of children,” Gastón Bruno, vice president of the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches (ACIERA), said. ACIERA is one of the principle organizers of the march.

A number of same-sex marriages have been performed in Argentina since last December, but subsequent court cases have retroactively annulled most of the unions.

Today the first gay marriage took place in Buenos Aires. Damian Bernath and Jorge Salazar were married at 10am in a civil registry along with close friends and family. There were several appeals against the marriage, but they failed to stop the ceremony.

The first gay marriage in Argentina took place on 28 December 2009 in the southern city of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. Alex Freyre and Jose Di Bello had planned to marry in Buenos Aires on World Aids Day, 1 December, but a federal judge suspended their wedding permit.

 Maria Rachid, president of the Argentine Federation for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders (FALGBT) said today about the wedding “Everything was normal and the city government did not appeal the ruling.” She also commented that the organisation would now be campaigning for Congress to change the law and legalise marriage for all. Since the marriage of Alex Freyre and Jose Di Bellow, nearly 250 same-sex couples from across Argentina have contacted FALGBT stating that they want to get married. In the first two months of 2010, the organisation has helped submit 60 marriage requests from same-sex couples.

Argentina became the first Latin American country to allow civil unions by same-sex couples in 2001. Civil unions allow couples some legal marital rights, but not the same as a marriage, such as the ability to adopt, social security and other benefits. In December 2009, Mexico was the first country in Latin American to allow same-sex marriages.

Argentina’s first gay wedding is in doubt after a judge suspended the ceremony, due to take place on Tuesday 1st December.

Couple Alejandro Freyre and José María di Bello were due to be wed after a judge ruled that stopping same-sex couples from marrying was unconstitutional. However Judge Marta Gomez Alsina on Monday ordered the wedding to be blocked until the issue was resolved by the country’s supreme court.

Alsina cast doubt on the competency of the first judgement in overriding parts of the country’s constitution, and thus suspended all proceedings in this case until they are heard by the highest legal authorities. The judge stressed that this was a constitutional and not discriminatory objection, and that the rights of homosexuals to cohabit hold civil unions are also enshrined in Buenos Aires legislature.

The couple however are determined to press ahead with the ceremony on Tuesday, despite the legal uncertainties. Lawyer María Rachid, representing Freyre and Di Bello, said that the new ruling should not overturn the decision that allowed the two to marry.

The previous decision by Judge Gabriela Seijus to allow the union provoked furious protest amongst members of the Catholic Church and the conservative establishment in the country. This was magnified when Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri declined to appeal the decision, declaring that “The world is moving in this direction. We have to live with and accept this reality. I hope that they are happy together”. Macri is a member of the conservative PRO party, and his decision was extremely unpopular with more traditional elements of the grouping.

The City government now have 60 days, and the couple themselves 15, to reintroduce their cases to the Supreme Court.