Zapatero legalises gay marriages in Spain

[Carnyx]

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Spain legalises gay marriages



http://www.euroresidentes.com/Blogs/...-marriages.htm

This morning the Spanish government finally passed the new law legalising same-sex marriages in Spain, just two days before the traditional annual "Gay pride" march is due to be held in Madrid. Parliament voted in favour of the new legislation by 187 votes in favour, 147 against and 4 abstentions.

One PP MP, Celia Villalobos, broke the party discipline code by voting in favour of the law - something which is almost unthought of within the strict confines of Popular Party norms. And the coordinator of the Gay and Lesbian section of the Popular Party later told the Spanish press waiting outside Congress that he intended to ask Madrid's charismatic PP mayor, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon (considered to be one of the party's moderates) to conduct the marriage ceremony between him and his partner this Summer. It is not known whether or not Ruiz Gallardon will agree to the request.

Spanish President José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said before the vote that "a small change in the wording (of the previous legislation) respresents a massive change to the lives of thousands of compatriots". Spain now joins Belgium, Holland and Canada as the fourth country to legalise gay marriages.

Rodriguez Zapatero made an unexpected speech before the vote, in which he underlined the fact that government support for this law did not imply a vote against traditional marriage or the family, a criticism which both the Spanish Catholic Church and Popular Party members have used in their joint campaign against the new legislation. Zapatero defended the legalization of same-sex marriages today before congress in the following terms: "we are not legislating for remote or strange people. Rather we are simply extending a new opportunity for happiness to our workmates, neighbours and friends, and we are making this country more decent in doing so.... Homosexuals are just a minority, but their victory today is a victory shared by everyone, because it is the victory of freedom".

The leader of the opposition's request for the right to reply to the improvised speech was denied by the Leader of the House, Manuel Marín, who said that according to the Rules of Congress, the Government is allowed to intervene in Congress at any time to defend its policies, but that this should not be seen as an excuse to reopen the debate.

The "small change" mentioned by Zapatero refers to the following sentence which has been added to article 44 of the Civil Code as a result of today's vote. "Marriage will have the same requirements and effects whether the couple are members of the same sex or of different sexes". The new law also includes a clause that contemplates the right of same-sex couples to adopt children, which means it goes beyond the gay rights laws in the Netherlands and Belgium.

According to a survey carried last year out by the CIS, 66 percent of Spaniards approve of gay marriages, but just 48 percent approve of the right of gays to adopt children.

Related:
Gay marriages in Spain

[Faísca]

This just proves how democracy is wonderful.

At least measures to counter this are already being prepared.

[Carnyx]

Spain defies Church to legalise gay marriage
Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:12 AM BST




By Emma Ross-Thomas

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain legalised same-sex marriages on Thursday, becoming only the fourth country to do so after Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands and overriding fierce opposition from the Catholic Church.

"With the approval of this law, our country takes a further step on the road of freedom and tolerance," said Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has embarked on a social reform programme since his election last year.
Supporters jumped to their feet to celebrate in a crowded public gallery when parliament voted to push the law through. Outside, dozens of same-sex couples hugged and kissed, some of them in tears.

The Catholic Church has strongly resisted Spain's gay marriage law but a survey last year showed 70 percent of Spaniards supported legalising gay marriage. (As much?! hmm...)

"This changes my life 100 percent. It changes the focus of my life from being a bachelor ... to having a formal family with children," Evarist Beneyto, a 26-year-old administrator, said.

"I never thought we would get to this point," he said.

Mariano Rajoy, leader of Spain's conservative opposition Popular Party which opposed the law, accused Zapatero of acting irresponsibly by pushing through a gay marriage law instead of seeking consensus on a less far-reaching civil unions law.

DIVISIONS

"He has caused an enormous division in Spanish society," he said. Rajoy said the Popular Party would study an appeal to Spain's constitutional court and a party colleague said it would consider repealing the law if it returned to office.

Earlier this month, bishops and nuns marched through Madrid with hundreds of thousands of Spaniards to protest against gay marriage and last month Spanish Roman Catholic bishops commanded all Catholics to resist applying the same-sex marriage law.

Spain's Congress on Thursday approved the bill, overriding the upper house, the Senate, which had rejected it.

The law gives same-sex unions the same status as heterosexual ones, including inheritance rights, pensions and the adoption of children.
During the 1939 to 1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco, homosexuality, divorce and abortion were illegal. But since Franco's death the country has adopted some of the most liberal views in Europe.

Zapatero's liberal reforms are popular among young people. Fewer than a fifth of them are practising Catholics.

Canada on Tuesday became the third country to legalise same-sex marriages. Belgium allowed for them in June 2003. The Netherlands allowed same sex-marriages in December 2000 although Dutch law had recognised registered partnerships since 1998.

[Milesian]

This is shit.
If it can happen in Spain then there is little hope for the rest of us
Perhaps it is time for another uprising....

[Ederico]

Degenerate.

[Vitor]

...
zapatero is still "thinking"...
Why not legalize everything...


He is anarchist at heart!

why not legalize Bestiality...
...why not legalize marriages between man and sheep!
they make love ...some do love their's sheeps!
it's wonderfull !

LOVE IS IN THE AIR!
LOVE IS IN THE AIR...

[Vitor]

what about the right of the childreen?

this guys do not think...
Childreen can and are usually less TOLERANT than adults!
YES they are not yet brainwashed with the Political correctiveness, and the ways of the "modern" society.

A kid with a couple like this WILL SUFFER!
Constant jokes like:
who are your father... or who makes the role of your mother...
etc...

kids are not usually angels in face of this situations...

this might even enduce suicide or mental disorders in the childreen..
Childreen right?
yah right!

[Milesian]

Originally Posted by Vitor

...
zapatero is still "thinking"...
Why not legalize everything...


He is anarchist at heart!

why not legalize Bestiality...
...why not legalize marriages between man and sheep!
they make love ...some do love their's sheeps!
it's wonderfull !

LOVE IS IN THE AIR!
LOVE IS IN THE AIR...

Sure, I mean "consent" is a very vague word anyway.
A paedophile could easily co-erce a child into "consenting". So surely they can't argue against a consenting adult and child. I'm sure they could argue in favour of an animal consenting as well.

This opens the door to paedophilia, bestiality and all sorts of other filth.
The toughest part for me is trying to act suprised by any of it.

[Menydh]

It's been a sham. The Socialists, together with the votes of the Catalan independentists, have voted to pass the law. Zapatero has made a surprise speech on the Parliament, and when Rajoy, the leader of the center of right PP has asked to speak, he has been denied the right by the President of the Parliament.

The votes of the MPs have been as follows:

PSOE (Socialists): All in favour minus 4 abstentions (absences)

PP (Center of Right): All against minus 1 in favour (Celia Villalobos, MP for Málaga) and 4 abstentions (absences)

ERC (Catalan Left, Independentists): All in favour

CiU coalition (Catalan Federalists) 4 against (members of Unió, Christian-Democrats), 2 in favour and 4 abstentions (no reasons given so far)

PNV (Basque Independentists, Christian-Democrats) 5 in favour and 2 abstentions (absences)

IU (Communists) All in favour

CC (Canarian Federalists) All in favour


Total in favour: 187
Total against: 147


The center of right PP has been criticised these days from an internal group/lobby of "gays and lesbians" of that party. In fact, while many member of PP came to the march, neither their president, Rajoy, nor the mayor of Madrid, Ruíz-Gallardón (who has declared in favour of fag-marriages) attended.

The association "Foro Español de la Familia" has been receiving death threats, which they have already taken to the courts.


Some links:

Foro Español de la Familia
http://www.forofamilia.org/

No Es Igual (It is not the same)
http://www.noesigual.org/web.html


In any case, the only possible analysis that I can do is that the state is much degraded in Spain, and that this blow is just one more and we can turn it into positive as it will help us reach decent people.

Now it's no time for regrets, but it is time to stand and fight back.

[Aeternitas]

"With the approval of this law, our country takes a further step on the road of freedom and tolerance,"

Now I wonder how many other countries will follow this great example of freedom and tolerance. Yuk!

[Milesian]

Freedom to act outwith the confines of common decency and sanity
Tolerance of evil and insanity.

Let's all say what we mean

[Theobald]

Originally Posted by Aeternitas

Now I wonder how many other countries will follow this great example of freedom and tolerance. Yuk!

I saw an interview of a Spanish gay leader yesterday. He said something like "Now Spain shall be an example for neighbouring countries, especially France." Indeed an ecologist mayor (Noel Mamère) had already tried to celebrate a marriage between two men in 2004, but that "union" was cancelled (and disturbed by a nationalist demonstration ) and the mayor faced administrative penalties (his suspension as mayor for 2 months if I'm not mistaken).
Fortunately as long as we have a "center-right" government it won't happen.

Originally Posted by Mynydd

PNV (Basque Independentists, Christian-Democrats) 5 in favour

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Now it's no time for regrets, but it is time to stand and fight back.

Does PP envisage to cancel that decision when they are back to government ?

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Der Elsasser

Fortunately as long as we have a "center-right" government it won't happen.

Don't bet on that..

Ruíz-Gallardón, Madrid mayor, center of right, has been quick in saying that he will be happy to marry any.

Celia Villalobos, MP, center of right, has voted in favour.


... the gates of hell are wide open.

Does PP envisage to cancel that decision when they are back to government ?

One PP MP has said they would. But he wasn't talking officially for the party.

If they did, one thing that would happen is that they would have to face a rebellion of their gay lobby. I'm not sure how willing are they to do that. Not because of them being many, but because of all the noise that they would produce.