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Spain legalises gay marriages, sparks Church anger
[channelnewsasia.com]
The Spanish government approved a bill to legalise homosexual marriages, which will make it only the third country in Europe to condone same-sex marriages - but the move sparked fury within a still influential Roman Catholic Church.
The plan, which will also give gay couples the right to adopt, "recognises all rights for homosexuals, when it comes to qualifying for a pension, administering an estate, asking for a loan, authorising surgery for a partner but also to adopt a child," cabinet spokeswoman Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said.
Spain "is in the forefront of Europe and of the world in the struggle against centuries of discrimination," de la Vega said, adding that about four million of Spain's 40 million inhabitants, or 10 percent were homosexual.
To date, gay marriages are only legal in Europe in Belgium and the Netherlands -- though only the Netherlands allows gay couples to adopt. Similar unions are legal in six Canadian provinces and the US state of Massachusetts.
The plan, which is to come into force next year once it obtains parliamentary approval, has been fiercely opposed by Spain's Roman Catholic Church, whose influence remains high if declining. A statement issued by Church sources following the announcement decried the move and said "society cannot remain indifferent to this attack" on its traditional values.
An association of Christian fringe groups and the archbishopric of Barcelona also pledged to campaign against the move. "It would impose on society a virus, something false, which will have negative consequences for social life," Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, spokesman for Spain's Episcopal Conference, insisted in midweek.
But de la Vega rejected the criticism.
"There are thousands of children already living in Spain with homosexual parents and more than 50 studies show there are no differences between children who grow up with homosexual parents and others. "Most Spanish people think what is important in adoption is the well-being of the child quite apart from the sexual orientation of the parents," she said.
Recent opinion polls point to an electorate in step with the government with a July poll indicating 66.2 percent support for same-sex marriages, though the figure fell to 48.2 percent for adoptions by gay couples.
Some 14 articles of the civil code will be altered so that the words "man and woman" and "father and mother" are replaced by "partners" or "parents".
According to Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez de Aguilar, "this initiative has not been taken against anything or anyone."
He told the news conference that the government "is cooperating with the (Roman Catholic) Church and considers that an open conflict with it is not good."
"This law is part of the Socialist programme which has been voted for by the Spanish," said Beatriz Gimeno, president of the country's Gay, Lesbian and Transexuals Federation.
"The Church has nothing to say about it. This interventionist tendency by the Church is the virus and must be eradicated."
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose crusade to liberalise social policy includes facilitating divorce, said earlier this week: "I deeply respect the opinions of the Catholic Church even if they are very critical of the government. I ask them to show the same respect."
Spain's main opposition Popular Party plans to propose an alternative law allowing homosexuals to form a "civil union" that would give them the same rights as unmarried heterosexual couples, save for the right to adopt.
Gay rights groups in Madrid said they would hold a celebration in the capital's 'gay quarter' Chueca to mark a "historic" day.
The Spanish government approved a bill to legalise homosexual marriages, which will make it only the third country in Europe to condone same-sex marriages - but the move sparked fury within a still influential Roman Catholic Church.
The plan, which will also give gay couples the right to adopt, "recognises all rights for homosexuals, when it comes to qualifying for a pension, administering an estate, asking for a loan, authorising surgery for a partner but also to adopt a child," cabinet spokeswoman Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said.
Spain "is in the forefront of Europe and of the world in the struggle against centuries of discrimination," de la Vega said, adding that about four million of Spain's 40 million inhabitants, or 10 percent were homosexual.
To date, gay marriages are only legal in Europe in Belgium and the Netherlands -- though only the Netherlands allows gay couples to adopt. Similar unions are legal in six Canadian provinces and the US state of Massachusetts.
The plan, which is to come into force next year once it obtains parliamentary approval, has been fiercely opposed by Spain's Roman Catholic Church, whose influence remains high if declining. A statement issued by Church sources following the announcement decried the move and said "society cannot remain indifferent to this attack" on its traditional values.
An association of Christian fringe groups and the archbishopric of Barcelona also pledged to campaign against the move. "It would impose on society a virus, something false, which will have negative consequences for social life," Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, spokesman for Spain's Episcopal Conference, insisted in midweek.
But de la Vega rejected the criticism.
"There are thousands of children already living in Spain with homosexual parents and more than 50 studies show there are no differences between children who grow up with homosexual parents and others. "Most Spanish people think what is important in adoption is the well-being of the child quite apart from the sexual orientation of the parents," she said.
Recent opinion polls point to an electorate in step with the government with a July poll indicating 66.2 percent support for same-sex marriages, though the figure fell to 48.2 percent for adoptions by gay couples.
Some 14 articles of the civil code will be altered so that the words "man and woman" and "father and mother" are replaced by "partners" or "parents".
According to Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez de Aguilar, "this initiative has not been taken against anything or anyone."
He told the news conference that the government "is cooperating with the (Roman Catholic) Church and considers that an open conflict with it is not good."
"This law is part of the Socialist programme which has been voted for by the Spanish," said Beatriz Gimeno, president of the country's Gay, Lesbian and Transexuals Federation.
"The Church has nothing to say about it. This interventionist tendency by the Church is the virus and must be eradicated."
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose crusade to liberalise social policy includes facilitating divorce, said earlier this week: "I deeply respect the opinions of the Catholic Church even if they are very critical of the government. I ask them to show the same respect."
Spain's main opposition Popular Party plans to propose an alternative law allowing homosexuals to form a "civil union" that would give them the same rights as unmarried heterosexual couples, save for the right to adopt.
Gay rights groups in Madrid said they would hold a celebration in the capital's 'gay quarter' Chueca to mark a "historic" day.
posted by jikido # 10:05 AM 
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