This post was submitted by John "Jolly" Bavoso

It’s the perennial and fundamental question belying any activist’s strategy: Do you work within the current system of government to achieve change or take the more revolutionary route and work outside of it, challenging its very nature? When applied to an issue such as marriage equality, the question becomes whether to work through legislators and the court system to achieve access to same-sex marriages or take matters into your own hands and instigate a confrontation between yourself and your state and society.

As I’ve highlighted several times in the past, the latter route was the one taken a lesbian couple in Russia recently, which began a global discussion of the gay rights struggle in that country and even got the European Court of Human Rights to investigate the situation further. In other parts of the world, similar approaches are being taken today by same-sex couples, with varying results. Even more interesting, perhaps, than the outcome of these couples’ individual unions is the effect their actions may have on their entire region and even the international community as a whole.

It was with great happiness that I reported several weeks ago about the first gay marriage in Latin America, which was held in Buenos Aires. As with many victories in the international march towards equality, however, there was almost immediately a setback. Following the city court decision to issue the pair a marriage license, a federal judge overturned that ruling, effectively invalidating Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre’s marriage. What seemed like a total reversal of fortune turned out to be a minor and temporary setback, as Fabiana Rios, Governor of the southern province of Tierra del Fuego, issued a special decree allowing the two to be married within that jurisdiction. An official bill and Supreme Court ruling in the country on marriage equality has been continually stalled, meaning the couple and Rios have jump started the process and the dialogue as well.

Another instance of a gay couple “going rogue,” so to speak, when it comes to marriage equality, took place smack in the middle of the most currently controversial region of the world in terms of LGBT rights. Across the globe, in Malawi, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza became the first couple in the nation’s history to take part in a same-sex marriage, which was illegal and therefore symbolic.  This didn’t stop the government from taking notice, however, as the couple was promptly arrested and taken into custody. A judge then denied the two men bail on their charges of public indecency, saying he was doing it for their own good, as “the public out there is angry with them.” Malawi is one of the countries in the world where homosexuality remains illegal and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. The couple is currently awaiting trial.

While these two weddings ended very differently for the couples involved, their larger implications may in fact be drastically disparate as well. In the case of Argentina, while some political and logistical strategy had to be employed, the event, taken in sum with other advances in Colombia and Mexico City, points to a positive trend for some, and one that might spread beyond just Latin America. Writes David Knowles:

On Monday, two Argentinean men became the first gay couple in Latin America to legally wed. But even as advocates celebrate that milestone, opponents of gay marriage are digging in to blunt the movement’s global momentum. The wedding between Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina’s southernmost province, was by no means an isolated victory for gay rights groups in Latin America. In 2002, Buenos Aires became the first Latin American city to permit same-sex civil unions. In 2007, Uruguay legalized civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Ecuador did so in 2008. Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled this year that gay couples must be afforded all of the same rights as straight ones, and last week, Mexico City became the first Latin American capital to pass a law legalizing gay marriage.

As Knowles said, while this progress is hopeful, there’s also evidence that gay rights opponents are also being instigated into action. Malawi has begun cracking down on its LGBT population since the same-sex marriage news broke and, in light of recent pieces of anti-gay legislation introduced in Uganda and Rwanda, international observers are starting to wonder if this might be the beginning of a larger regional clamp down on the rights of sexual minorities. Writing for Newsweek, Kate Dailey analyzes this so-called African Domino Theory:

Still, precedents set in one country can inspire dormant culture wars to flare up anew in surrounding areas, especially when those areas are as connected as those in eastern Africa. Hughes sees that from her vantage point in Nairobi, too. “The law in Uganda is extreme, even by African standards, but the fallout may be a preview of Africa’s own version of a ‘culture war,’ ” she writes. Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and their neighbors are connected by mobile populations and religious networks. As Johnson notes, many influential leaders in Rwanda are, in fact, Ugandan; they grew up in Uganda, speak English, and hear voices like Stephen Langa, Scott Lively, Martin Ssempa, and Rick Warren coming across the airwaves. That even includes Rwandan President Paul Kagame; similarly, his wife grew up in Burundi, then lived in both Kenya and Uganda. The connections are evident on the op-ed pages of Rwanda’s newspapers. “These homos are probably running out of Uganda and coming to Rwanda, where there is no specific law that prohibits them from practicing this forbidden habit,” wrote one contributor to The New Times, Rwanda’s state-owned paper. “Just like Ugandans have passed the antigay bill, Rwandans too should follow this path in order to maintain the intergrity and dignity that we have held for all these decades.” Whether its geopolitical reality or the boldness of its legislation is at root, Uganda is clearly setting an example.

The diffusion of anti-gay sentiments is indeed troubling, but it’s important to remember that this situation could indeed end differently. For more of a discussion on that possibly, read this post I wrote for another publication on this subject.

So, where do you fall on these issues? Is “going rogue” the right way to address marriage inequality, or should international activists be working within the system? Do you feel that opinions are changing one way or another across the globe, or are these merely isolated incidents?

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