Spanish Parliament Votes on Gay Marriage

Spain? Who would have thought? Italy next?

Spanish Parliament Votes on Gay Marriage

The Scotsman
3:36am (UK)

Roman Catholic Spain is poised today to become the third country to recognise gay marriages.

Parliament is expected to pass legislation giving same-sex couples equal rights to adoption and divorce.

Conservative politicians and the Church have fiercely opposed the Bill, but are not likely to prevent it from getting support from a majority in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies.

"This victory in Spain will make many other countries start the battle for equality because it is possible," Lesbian rights activist Beatriz Gimeno said.

"If Spain, a Catholic and southern Mediterranean country with a short history of policies in protecting social freedoms can do it, it is perfectly possible that any other European country can do it."

The Netherlands and Belgium approved same-sex marriages in 2001 and 2003. Canada expects to legalise same-sex marriages before the end of July.

For gays and lesbian couples in Spain, the new law would mean an end to years of discrimination, advocates say.

"Now, we also have the right to show off our marriage. We are clear that our love is the same as any other," said Boti Garcia, Gimeno's long-time partner.

Prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government proposed the legislation shortly after winning 2004 elections, after eight years of conservative rule.

Zapatero told MPs on the day he was confirmed as prime minister that he would fight discrimination against homosexuals and propose legislation to allow their marriage. Other parties have said they will back the Bill.

Conservative groups, however, have urged MPs to block the Bill, and the Church has become furious, taking the rare step of endorsing a rally in which hundreds of thousands marched through Madrid in opposition to the bill. Some 20 bishops took part in the June 18 rally.

Yesterday, a Catholic lay group presented MPs with a petition bearing 600,000 signatures as a last-minute protest. The Spanish Family Forum said those signatures were in addition to half a million others presented last month urging the government to call a referendum on the issue.

The organisation also wants conservative MPs opposed to gay marriage to file a lawsuit seeking to have the Bill declared unconstitutional because marriage can only be a union between a man and a woman.

Late last year the spokesman for the Spanish Bishops Conference, Antonio Martinez Camino said that allowing gay marriage was like "imposing a virus on society, something false that will have negative consequences for social life".

A survey released in May by pollster Instituto Opina said 62% of Spaniards supported the government's action on this issue, and 30% opposed it. The poll had a margin of error of three points.

If the Bill passes, the first marriages of gay couples will be concluded only after the law is published in Spain's official journal, expected as early as 15 days after the parliamentary vote, the federation of Gays and Lesbians says.

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