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Gay couples win right to marry in Spain despite opposition - Independent

Gay couples win right to marry in Spain despite opposition
By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid
Published: 01 July 2005 - Independent

Spain's parliament has finally approved a law permitting same-sex marriage in the teeth of fierce opposition from the church.

Guests in the public gallery and crowds gathered outside cheered, applauded and embraced each other when the bill was passed. MPs voted for the reform by 187 to 147, with four abstentions, fulfilling an election promise by the ruling Socialists. Spain now joins Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada in allowing homosexuals to marry. Spanish gay couples will be allowed to adopt, and enjoy pension and inheritance rights.

"This is the happiest day of my life," said Manuel Fernandez, 36, a lawyer in the crowd. "It's given equality to a group that's been discriminated against for centuries. Thirty years ago, gays were jailed. This is a miracle."

Mr Fernandez planned to marry his partner of nine years, but added that homophobia was still widespread. "We must campaign now to convince everyone that the reform is just."

Earlier this month, Catholic bishops mobilised a huge demonstration against the bill, and yesterday handed in a petition of protest with 600,000 signatures. Clerics condemned the law as "unnatural" and a threat to the institution of marriage, and had demanded the proposal go to a referendum.

The Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, insisted in yesterday's debate that the law did not threaten anyone's rights, but merely extended the rights of those who had long been humiliated. "We are not the first and ... will not be the last. After us will come many countries motivated by the two unstoppable forces of freedom and equality," Mr Zapatero said.

Conscious that many Spaniards objected, Mr Zapatero added that everyone's views had to be respected, "even those who disagree". The law permits officials to opt out of conducting same-sex marriages on grounds of conscience, but they must appoint a replacement.

"This is a historic moment, the triumph of justice and common sense," said Pedro Zerolo, Socialist councillor for Madrid and longtime gay-rights campaigner. "I'm going to get married to my partner, Jesus, as soon as the law comes into effect, for love and militancy."

A short walk from the parliament, Madrid's gay neighbourhood of Chueca was decked with multicoloured bunting. Silken rainbow-striped flags fluttered from wrought-iron balconies. By lunchtime, stacks of beer barrels were positioned on every street corner in preparation for a night of celebration. Madrid's gay pride festivities -- among the biggest and most boisterous of the fiesta calendar -- have been gathering force since Wednesday. Last night's party heralds tomorrow's march through the heart of the capital, expected to attract a million supporters.

Mariano Rajoy, leader of the opposition Popular Party, was considering appealing to the constitutional court against the law. The government feels it is on firm ground: Spain's post-Franco democratic constitution of 1978 says "a man and a woman have the right to marry with full juridical equality", without stipulating that they must marry each other. The new law adds one sentence: "Marriage will have the same requisites and effects whether those getting married are of the same or different sex."

Spain's parliament has finally approved a law permitting same-sex marriage in the teeth of fierce opposition from the church.

Guests in the public gallery and crowds gathered outside cheered, applauded and embraced each other when the bill was passed. MPs voted for the reform by 187 to 147, with four abstentions, fulfilling an election promise by the ruling Socialists. Spain now joins Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada in allowing homosexuals to marry. Spanish gay couples will be allowed to adopt, and enjoy pension and inheritance rights.

"This is the happiest day of my life," said Manuel Fernandez, 36, a lawyer in the crowd. "It's given equality to a group that's been discriminated against for centuries. Thirty years ago, gays were jailed. This is a miracle."

Mr Fernandez planned to marry his partner of nine years, but added that homophobia was still widespread. "We must campaign now to convince everyone that the reform is just."

Earlier this month, Catholic bishops mobilised a huge demonstration against the bill, and yesterday handed in a petition of protest with 600,000 signatures. Clerics condemned the law as "unnatural" and a threat to the institution of marriage, and had demanded the proposal go to a referendum.

The Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, insisted in yesterday's debate that the law did not threaten anyone's rights, but merely extended the rights of those who had long been humiliated. "We are not the first and ... will not be the last. After us will come many countries motivated by the two unstoppable forces of freedom and equality," Mr Zapatero said.
Conscious that many Spaniards objected, Mr Zapatero added that everyone's views had to be respected, "even those who disagree". The law permits officials to opt out of conducting same-sex marriages on grounds of conscience, but they must appoint a replacement.

"This is a historic moment, the triumph of justice and common sense," said Pedro Zerolo, Socialist councillor for Madrid and longtime gay-rights campaigner. "I'm going to get married to my partner, Jesus, as soon as the law comes into effect, for love and militancy."

A short walk from the parliament, Madrid's gay neighbourhood of Chueca was decked with multicoloured bunting. Silken rainbow-striped flags fluttered from wrought-iron balconies. By lunchtime, stacks of beer barrels were positioned on every street corner in preparation for a night of celebration. Madrid's gay pride festivities -- among the biggest and most boisterous of the fiesta calendar -- have been gathering force since Wednesday. Last night's party heralds tomorrow's march through the heart of the capital, expected to attract a million supporters.

Mariano Rajoy, leader of the opposition Popular Party, was considering appealing to the constitutional court against the law. The government feels it is on firm ground: Spain's post-Franco democratic constitution of 1978 says "a man and a woman have the right to marry with full juridical equality", without stipulating that they must marry each other. The new law adds one sentence: "Marriage will have the same requisites and effects whether those getting married are of the same or different sex."

Spain Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage - Washington Post

(Photo) Pedro Zerolo, a gay rights activist and member of the Spanish Socialist Party, flashes a victory sign outside the parliament building in Madrid after Spain became the third country in the world, after Belgium and the Netherlands, to give gay couples the same right to marriage as heterosexuals.
Photo Credit: Photos By Susana Vera -- Reuters

Spain Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
Prime Minister Makes Unexpected Speech Backing Law Termed 'Unjust' by Church
By Jennifer Green
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, July 1, 2005; Page A14

MADRID, The Spanish parliament approved a same-sex marriage law Thursday, handing a major victory to the governing Socialist Party and angering such opponents as the Roman Catholic Church, which denounced the measure as "unjust."

Spain's action follows similar moves by the Netherlands and Belgium, where same-sex marriage has been legal for some time. On Tuesday, Canada's House of Commons also passed a gay marriage bill, which now awaits Senate approval. Several European countries have sanctioned civil unions for homosexual couples.

Gay marriages will be permitted in Spain as soon as the law, which passed the Congress of Deputies in a 187 to 147 vote, is published in the official government registry, according to the parliamentary press office. The Spanish law also gives same-sex couples the right to adopt children and receive inheritances.

The vote was held after Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero unexpectedly took the floor of parliament to speak in its support. "We are expanding the opportunities for happiness of our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends and our relatives," he said. "At the same time, we are building a more decent society."

A roar of applause rippled through the visitors' galleries of the historic 19th-century chamber, and supporters who had gathered outside the building cheered after votes were cast.

Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the opposition Popular Party, who was denied the opportunity to address parliament after Zapatero's surprise appearance, accused the prime minister of dividing Spanish society.

"I have the firm conviction that if Zapatero had called together all the parties, we would have created a law that would have majority support in parliament and among Spaniards," he said.

The Popular Party, which has favored recognizing civil unions without using the word marriage, said it would consider an appeal to the Constitutional Court, Spain's highest tribunal.

Rajoy said the issue was "not a debate between Catholics and non-Catholics" in this predominantly Catholic country.

The Catholic Church has vehemently opposed same-sex marriage and divorce in Spain, taking the unusual step of endorsing a "pro-family" demonstration in Madrid on June 18. Pope Benedict XVI has condemned gay marriage as an expression of "anarchic freedom" that threatens the future of the family.

The Spanish Bishops' Conference released a statement describing Thursday's decision and a bill passed Wednesday facilitating divorce as blows to the institution of marriage. Such measures reduce marriage to "a light contract that any party can rescind by virtue of mere desire just three months after stipulating it," the statement said.

"Considering this terrible and serious situation, Spanish society must be trusted to know how to stand in defense of marriage, family and children," the bishops said. "These unjust laws must be opposed through every legitimate means that the state makes available to its citizens."

Supporters of gay marriage praised the law's passage and announced plans to celebrate in an annual gay pride parade in Madrid on Saturday.

"I traveled to Madrid to participate in Saturday's march for the first time because of what happened on the 18th," said Javier Abreu, a spokesman for the Socialist Party in Tenerife, Canary Islands. Abreu was awaiting celebrations at Chueca Plaza, the center of gay pride events here this week.

At a presentation in Madrid for his latest film, " Volver ," or "Return," starring Penelope Cruz, the movie director Pedro Almodovar also expressed support. "It was about time," he said. "This law will enrich society. I think it is pro-family."

Madrid legalises gay marriages - Financial Times

Madrid legalises gay marriages
By Leslie Crawford in Madrid
Published: June 30 2005 17:22 | Last updated: June 30 2005 17:22
Financial Times

Spain on Thursday legalised gay marriage and granted same-sex couples the right to adopt children and inherit property from each other, despite protests from conservative groups and the Roman Catholic church.

The law makes Spain only the third country in the world, after Belgium and the Netherlands, to recognise gay unions. Canada will be next. Its Senate is expected later this month to ratify a gay marriage bill, passed by the House of Commons on Tuesday.

In Madrid, gay activists celebrated the vote by waving rainbow flags and kissing outside the Cortes, or national parliament. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's Socialist prime minister, said the law ushered in “a more decent society, which does not humiliate some of its citizens.”

Since taking office in April last year, Mr Zapatero has legalised stem-cell research, made divorce easier and introduced tough penalties against wife battering. Later this year, the government plans to loosen restrictions on abortion and draft a gender equality bill to end discrimination against women in the workforce, mandating equal pay for equal work.

But the gay marriage bill was the most controversial of the prime minister's liberal social agenda, and it has become the focus of a conservative backlash in Spain.

Spanish bishops have denounced gay marriage as “the greatest threat to the Roman Catholic church in 2,000 years”. Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, led a protest march in June that was attended by more than 160,000 people. Traditional family groups tried to halt the vote in parliament on Thursday with a petition signed by 600,000 opponents of the law.

Mariano Rajoy, leader of the opposition Popular party, on Thursday said he would challenge the gay marriage law in Spain's Constitutional Court.

Polls show a majority of Spaniards approve of gay marriage (although they have reservations about gays being allowed to adopt children), in a sign of how attitudes have changed since the restoration of democracy, 25 years ago.

However, a growing number of critics initially sympathetic to the Socialist government believe Mr Zapatero is focusing on social reforms to the detriment of more pressing problems.

Gay Marriage to Be Legal in Spain on Sun. - AP

Gay Marriage to Be Legal in Spain on Sun.
By DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jul 2,11:43 AM ET

The law legalizing gay marriage in Spain has cleared its last bureaucratic formality -- being published in an official government registry -- and will take effect on Sunday.

An official of the ruling Socialist party, which sponsored the law, said the party will now seek legislation to protect Spain's estimated 8,000 transsexuals.

The gay marriage law, passed Thursday by the lower house of parliament, was published Saturday in the gazette, the Boletin Oficial del Estado, which records all government decisions in Spain. The document specified that the new law will go into effect Sunday.

The law was signed by King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Gay couples are not expected to start getting married until late this month because of the paperwork needed before they go to town halls and other civil bodies that marry people in Spain, according to Spain's main federation of gays and lesbians.

The law gives same-sex couples the right to wed, adopt children and inherit each other's property, making their legal status the same as that of heterosexual couples.

Gay and lesbian groups planned a big street rally for Saturday evening in Madrid to celebrate passage of the law, which makes Spain the third country in the world to grant full recognition to gay marriage. The others are the Netherlands and Belgium. Canada is expected to follow suit later this month.

Several European countries and a few U.S. states recognize civil unions among same-sex couples but this falls short of treating them like married couples.

Fierce criticism of the law from the Catholic church continued, with the head of the Spanish Bishops Conference, Bishop Ricardo Blazquez, branding it unconstitutional.

Speaking on Vatican radio Friday, he said called the law's passage "a sad day for the Spanish people because the stability of marriage has been gravely injured and tremendous confusion over marriage and family has been unleashed."

Meanwhile Pedro Zerolo, a Madrid town councilor who is gay and heads the Socialist party's social policy department, said Friday that when parliament reconvenes after its summer recess the government will present a bill that aims to regulate treatment of transsexuals. There is no such law now.

It will address such issues as recognizing gender and name-changes of people who say their true gender is not the one they were born with, Zerolo said.

A draft of the bill states that such persons will not have to undergo complete genital-change surgery and will only need a certificate from a psychologist, Zerolo said Friday.

One issue that has not been settled is whether the government will pay for sex-change operations.

Such funding was a plank in the Socialist party platform for the March 2004 general election that the party won. But the government has to negotiate this with regional governments who are responsible for state-paid health care in Spain.

An organization of Spanish transsexuals, Transexualia, says there are about 8,000 transsexuals in Spain.

Thousands celebrate gay marriage in Spanish march - Reuters

(Photo) A drag queen takes part in a street party, on the day Spain's parliament legalized same-sex marriages, in Chueca, Madrid's gay area, June 30, 2005. Spain is the latest country to legalize same-sex marriages on Thursday, drawing a stinging rebuke from Spain's powerful Catholic church which urged the faithful to oppose the law 'by all legitimate means'. Picture taken June 30, 2005. Photo by Andrea Comas/Reuters


Thousands celebrate gay marriage in Spanish march
Sat Jul 2, 2005 9:08 PM BST
By Daniel Flynn

MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people paraded through Madrid on Saturday in Spain's largest annual gay pride march, celebrating a decision to legalise gay marriage which comes into force this weekend.

Waving rainbow flags and behind a banner reading "We Go Forward, Now For Transsexuals", gays and lesbians danced in the sun following parliament's decision on Thursday to approve a law giving same-sex marriages the same status as heterosexual ones.

"I am here to support the march and to celebrate what we have achieved," said Rafael Hernandez, 35, a nurse. "There is still some discrimination in Spain, but now it is less."

Several banners attacked Spain's powerful Roman Catholic Church, which had strongly opposed a law it said could harm the fabric of society. "Vatican = Inquisition" read one, while other said "Stop Homophobia. Secular Society Now".

Many marchers wore badges or waved flags in support of Spain's ruling Socialist Party which pushed through the law despite fierce criticism from the centre-right Popular Party.

"Thanks to the Socialists. They have made our dream reality," said one organiser via loudspeaker, to applause from the crowd.

The law takes effect from Sunday, making Spain only the fourth country in the world to have legalised same-sex marriages after the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada.

Gay rights groups do not expect the first marriage to take place for several weeks, due to the bureaucracy involved.

Drenched but delighted party-goers danced under a rainbow as Madrid firemen doused marchers with high pressure hoses from atop a red fire engine, creating a sparkling version of the gay pride symbol.

"This is a first step by the Spanish government to end differences. In Portugal, we are still a long way from achieving this," said Nuno Lomba, 32, who travelled from Lisbon.

"But I would not get married myself. I don't need a piece of paper to tell me I love someone," he said.

Regional flags from around Spain peppered the crowd, which organisers said totalled more than 1 million people.

State radio put the figure at hundreds of thousands, while police estimated 97,000 people took part in the march itself.

With a carnival atmosphere Madrid's streets, revellers bounced a giant inflatable penis above the crowd.

Several marchers dressed as nuns to mock the Spanish Catholic Church, which called on the faithful this week to oppose the law "by all legitimate means".

The reform, which opinion polls suggest had the support of 70 percent of Spaniards, gives same-sex unions the same status as heterosexual ones, including adoption and inheritance rights.

The Socialists' liberal agenda is a major break with the past: Spain was ruled from 1939-1975 by Catholic nationalist dictator Francisco Franco who banned homosexuality and divorce.