What’s new, Buenos Aires?!  Gay people getting married, that’s what!  Argentina legalized same-sex marriage Thursday, becoming the first country in Latin America to grant gays and lesbians all the legal rights, responsibilities, and protections that marriage brings to heterosexual couples.

After a marathon debate stretching nearly 16 hours, 33 lawmakers voted in favor, 27 were against it, and 3 abstained in Argentina’s Senate in a vote that ended after 4 a.m. Since the lower house already approved it, and President Cristina Fernandez is a strong supporter, it now becomes law as soon as it is published in the official bulletin.

The approval came despite a concerted campaign by the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical groups, which drew 60,000 people to march on Congress and urged parents in churches and schools to work against passage.  Nine gay couples had already married in Argentina after persuading judges that the constitutional mandate of equality supports their marriage rights, but some of these marriages were later declared invalid.

Sen. Norma Morandini, a member of the president’s party, compared the discrimination closeted gays face to the oppression imposed by Argentina’s dictators decades ago.

“What defines us is our humanity, and what runs against humanity is intolerance,” she said.

Same-sex civil unions have been legalized in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, and some states in Mexico and Brazil. Mexico City has legalized gay marriage. Colombia’s Constitutional Court granted same-sex couples inheritance rights and allowed them to add their partners to health insurance plans.  But Argentina now becomes the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, granting many more rights than civil unions, including adopting children and inheriting wealth.

Gay rights advocates said Argentina’s historic step adds momentum to similar efforts around the world.

“Today’s historic vote shows how far Catholic Argentina has come, from dictatorship to true democratic values, and how far the freedom to marry movement has come, as twelve countries on four continents now embrace marriage equality,” said Evan Wolfson, who runs the U.S. Freedom to Marry lobby.

He urged U.S. lawmakers to stand up “for the Constitution and all families here in the United States. America should lead, not lag, when it comes to treating everyone equally under the law.”

…friendly old girl of town.  If you can name that reference then you, sir, belong on this gay cruise.  Starting in Copenhagen is the most perfect, peaceful way to kick off nine days of gay exploration of Northern Europe.  Copenhagen exemplifies the graceful, clean-living Scandinavian spirit you’ve heard about but never quite believed existed.  It’s quiet, it’s ridiculously clean, the people are friendly, and the architecture couldn’t be more charming if it tried.  I mean, look at this:

How cute is that?  Now picture, if you can stand it, almost an entire city like that.  Are you in a storybook?  No, you’re in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is one of the greenest cities on the planet, and one of the major ways they accomplish that is by bicycle travel.  32% of the population bike to work and the government has bent over backwards to make Copenhagen one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world.  In fact, one neighborhood is already entirely car-free.  The city provides public bicycles which can be found throughout the downtown area and used with a returnable deposit of 20 kroner; you get your money back when you return the bike to one of many racks.  Like this one:

So hop on a bike and see Copenhagen like a native.

Sure, there are attractions to see in Copenhagen, like Tivoli, the quaint little theme park smack in the middle of the city:

And of course, Copenhagen was the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson, one of the fathers of children’s literature and the author of such classics as “The Little Mermaid”.  (Hans Christian Anderson → Storybooks → Copenhagen.  Told you so.)  So you can go see the famous Little Mermaid statue:

But truth be told, Copenhagen is not a city that’s about A-list attractions, it’s more a place to experience as a whole, to wander around and mingle with the (very friendly, quite attractive) people and see what keeps getting the Danish listed as the world’s happiest, most contented people.  And you’ll have plenty of time and daylight to do your gallivanting:  during the summer the sun takes its sweet, sweet time going down.  This was taken around 10 pm:

Great for sightseeing, a little rough on jetlag.  But how often are you in Copenhagen?!  Enjoy it!

Check back soon as we continue our charm tour around the Baltic and make a stop in Tallinn, Estonia!

“The attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic,” said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. “It (gay marriage) has not been a big issue in national politics — it’s not been controversial…the attitude toward homosexuality has grown increasingly relaxed in the past two or three decades.”

Hvernig hressandi! (How refreshing!)

ILGA-Europe – the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association – has named Sweden as Europe’s most pro-gay country.

The new edition of the group’s Rainbow Europe Country Index says Sweden is the only European nation that passes all the group’s tests in areas such as anti-discrimination protections, recognition of same-sex partnerships and parenting, hate-crime and hate-speech laws, plus equal age-of-consent laws.

Join us this summer on the Atlantis Baltic Cruise when we’ll be spending a day in beautiful Stockholm being greeted with open, gay-friendly arms!  July 29 – Aug. 8, 2010.

Gay Days runs through Sunday the 6^th, so it’s not too late to join tens of thousands of your gay and lesbian friends for the celebration!  There are some great last minute air and hotel deals available, including 3-night stays at the Sheraton Vistana and Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Resorts.  Check out our search engine or give us a call at 1-800-711-6029.  We’ll get you there!

For Walt Disney World Resort tickets, go to http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/

Check out www.gaydays.com for the full calendar of events.