Argentina: Ban on gay soldiers is lifted, effective today

While there are signs that neither the Obama administration nor the US Congress are in a rush to lift the damaging "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy which requires that soldiers who disclose their homosexuality be kicked out of military service, there is some great news today from Argentina.

A translated excerpt from an article published today in AG Magazine, one of the best LGBT news portals in Argentina:

In Argentina, starting today, a new military justice system goes into effect which decriminalizes homosexuality among uniformed members, eliminates the death penalty, and moves crimes committed exclusively within the military to the public justice sphere [previously there had been a separate military court system].

Under the old system, gays were not permitted to have access to a military career, at the same time as this sexual orientation was penalized. And, while there are no publicly known former sanctions against gays under the old policy, this does not mean that men and women with that sexual orientation have not been disciplined, and perhaps separated from the armed forces under a mantle of silence.

In fact, with this new system, gay men or lesbian women who wish to train in the forces should encounter no impediment, nor any military retaliation areas.

According to the AP, the new law replaces one that had been in the books since 1958, and goes into effect today, six months after it was approved by Argentina's legislative body and promoted by President Cristina Férnandez de Kirchner.

Clarin says that the changes in the military code resulted, in part, from the American Convention on Human Rights strong opposition to the death penalty clause that existed in the previous code. Some see the changes as putting further distance between modern Argentina and its military dictatorship years, particularly since it puts the military under purview of the country's public courts.

One more LGBT rights development in a Latin American nation that leap-frogs over current US policy.

Related:

• Argentina officially ends trials for homosexual acts in military (AP via 365gay.com, March 2, 2009)
• A New Argentina Overturns Gay Military Ban (Queerty, March 2, 2009)
  
• Opinion: A Study of contrasts on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell by Steve Ralls (The Huffington Post, March 2, 2009)