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As the United States wrestles with the issue of gay marriages, lawmakers in Latin America -- a Roman Catholic stronghold often seen as the land of machismo -- are considering a string of measures that legally recognize gay couples.

The Argentine capital of Buenos Aires in July approved marriage-like legal status for gay couples. Similar bills have been introduced in the Mexico City Legislative Assembly and Chile's parliament. And in Costa Rica, a gay lawyer recently asked the Supreme Court to overturn a ban on gay unions.

The American public has been deeply divided on the issue since a recent Supreme Court ruling striking down antisodomy statues, which could fuel legal efforts to permit gay marriages.

A USA Today-CNN-Gallup Poll in July showed 50 percent of Americans support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages, and 45 percent oppose it. President Bush said he has asked White House lawyers to study how to keep marriage limited to unions between men and women.

Latin America is also divided. Gays there have long been forced to live behind closed doors or suffer the backlash of a society where unresolved antigay assaults and police abuses have been widely reported.

Yet, gays in five Latin American countries have made unprecedented gains in past months in putting their arguments for legal rights before their lawmakers and courts, despite strong opposition from traditionalists.

In a region where about 80 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, church officials have spoken out against the proposed laws, and conservative groups are gearing up for counter-campaigns. An August statement from the Vatican urged legislatures around the world to reject any measures that ``violate fundamental values.''

''Although we respect all the people involved, it would be a grave mistake to grant people with these tendencies the same rights as married couples,'' the Rev. Pedro Agustin Rivera Díaz, a spokesman at the Mexico City archbishop's office, said in a telephone interview. ``This behavior is abnormal.''

Gay-rights activists in the region are undeterred.

''We deserve to be treated as first-class citizens, not as second- or third-class citizens,'' said Germán Rincón Perfetti, a gay lawyer who is running for the city council in the Colombian capital of Bogotá.

Argentine civil union

Gay-rights groups throughout Latin America have their eyes on Argentina, where the new law in Buenos Aires allowed César Cigliutti, 45, and Marcelo Suntheim, 34, to join in a civil union on July 18. The law grants gay and lesbian couples that have lived together for at least two years the right to joint health coverage, family leave and decision-making for partners in case of illness.

The Buenos Aires law does not permit them to adopt or inherit property. But an openly gay man from the province of Córdoba was granted custody of his two children last month, despite church opposition.

In Mexico City, the municipal legislature has on its agenda a bill legalizing ''domestic partnerships'' -- which covers gay and unmarried heterosexual couples as well as relatives and friends who live together -- that would ensure access to bank credits and state social welfare benefits.

''In a country where more than 90 percent of the people do not have a will, the new law would guarantee same-sex couples their right to inheritance,'' said Francisco Lagunes, spokesperson for Mexico City Pride, a gay-rights group.

Mexico City Assembly member Enoe Uranga, a lesbian who is leading the charge for the bill, said she feels confident it will pass soon because it has the support of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, which won a majority in the Assembly during recent elections.

In Chile, the Homosexual Integration and Liberation Movement submitted a bill in June to the Chamber of Deputies that would establish mechanisms for inheritance, joint accumulation of property and division of assets in case a same-sex partnership broke up. Like the Mexico City proposal, the Chilean bill would cover nonmarried heterosexual couples and others who live together.

And in July, Costa Rican lawyer Yashin Castrillo Fernández petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a ban on same-sex marriages that carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.

In another first, federal officials in Costa Rica disregarded Catholic Church objections and granted custody of a 10-year old to a transvestite who has cared for the boy since infancy. A court is set to review the decision.

Debate in Colombia

The difficulties of the struggle were highlighted in Colombia, where Liberal Party Sen. Piedad Córdoba spurred heated debate last month with a bill extending most legal rights of married heterosexuals to same-sex couples who have been together at least two years.

Despite strong support from several former Colombian presidents, the bill was defeated, 55-32.

During the debate, Angel Alberto Duque, 50 and unemployed, told his story on the Senate floor.

Three years ago, Duque and his male partner purchased a condominium in Bogotá. To qualify for subsidies offered only to married or common-law straight couples, Duque's partner ''married'' his sister-in-law.

Duque's partner of 10 years died of cancer three months later and the dead man's ''wife'' claimed the Bogotá apartment.

Herald staff writer Frances Robles contributed to this report.