Is Argentina ready to become Latin America’s first nation to legalize gay marriage? Gay and lesbian activists think so — and they have a growing number of supporters in Congress, which opened debate Thursday on whether to change dozens of laws that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. “We can’t expect social equality if the state is legitimizing inequality,” said Maria Rachid, president of the Argentine Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Federation. “We now have the social and political context necessary to change the law.”

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