By Sorrel Moseley-Williams

Herald staff

After signing the same-sex marriage into law on Wednesday at Government House in front of ministers, gay and human rights groups and supporters, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner then hosted an intimate 30-minute meeting for a group of eight.

Guests granted a private audience with the President included Pablo De Luca and Gustavo Noguera, co-founders of the Argentine gay and lesbian business chamber (CCGLAR), as well as Justin Nelson and Chance Mitchell, co-founders of US National Gay/Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). Michael Luongo, a US journalist and photographer, also attended the meeting in his capacity as a speaker at the GNetwork360 travel and marketing conference which ends today (Friday). He talked to the Herald about his close-up with the President.

According to Luongo, she was most interested into talking to the NGLCC, who told the Herald on Wednesday that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) travellers from the US spend more than 65 billion dollars a year on tourism.

The meeting, organized by newly appointed Tourism Minister Enrique Meyer who opened the travel conference on Wednesday, took place immediately after the bill became legislation.

“The President really wanted to meet the people from both chambers of commerce. Myself plus another US journalist were also allowed in, which was remarkable as she never sits with journalists,” he said.

The President was asked about how the law would affect gay tourism in Argentina, but, Luongo added, she believed it would have more of an impact with regard to new foreign residents.

“She said the law wouldn’t necessarily have an impact on that sector but that many people from countries that can’t marry, such as the US, would move here and take up residency so they can get married,” he said.

“She called the law a beacon for Latin America and the rest of the world and that this would indicate a change for the region. The President also mentioned a senator who had voted against the divorce law who then got divorced and who is probably a gay man.

“However, she really wanted to promote tourism and business. I also got the impression she is very happy that foreigners visit Argentina and the fact that the change in civil union and now this law makes people look at Buenos Aires as a very open place.”

This was Luongo’s third meeting with the President — they previously met in Mendoza and New York City — and said she wore the same pale pink cardigan as when she signed the bill into law. He added that he was surprised the press conference didn‘t take place in the Government House’s most important room, the Salón Blanco. Instead, it was held in the Latin American Patriots Gallery on the ground floor.