 |
|
"We are not the first to adopt such a law but I am sure we will not be the last," Zapatero said. (Reuters)
|
MADRID,
June 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Only two days
after a similar Canadian decision and in defiance of furious
opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, the Spanish parliament gave
Thursday, June 30, the green light for a controversial legislation
allowing gays to marry and adopt children.
Lawmakers
approved the text by a majority of 187 votes out of 350, with 147
voting against and four abstentions, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
bill, put forward by the Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero, will now be signed into law by the head of state, King Juan
Carlos, and come into force this summer.
Before
the vote, Zapatero said the decision was "in strict application
of an electoral pledge".
"We
are not legislating for foreign or distant peoples, we are increasing
the chances of happiness of our neighbors, our friends, our work
colleagues, the members of our family.
"It
is true that (homosexuals) are only a minority but their triumph is a
triumph for everybody, their victory makes us all better, makes our
society better," he told the legislature.
Spain
has around four million homosexuals, according to gay associations.
The
right for gay couples to marry and enjoy equal treatment over adoption
were key demands in this year's Gay Pride marches in European capitals
this month, and which is set for Madrid on July 2.
Gay
relationship and marriage are totally
prohibited in Islam as well as in all divine religions.
Not
First
 |
|
People hold anti-gay marriage banners reading 'Family= Man and Woman' and
'Zapatero, I'm a baby, not an experiment'. (Reuters)
|
Zapatero
stressed that Spain was not the only country to pass such a
legislation.
"We
are not the first to adopt such a law but I am sure we will not be the
last, many other countries will come after, pushed by two unstoppable
forces, liberty and equality" he said.
Spain
became Europe's third nation to legalize same-sex marriage after the
Netherlands and Belgium, and the fourth in the world after Canada.
On
Tuesday, June 28, the Canadian parliament approved legislation to
allow same sex marriages, helping cement Canada's image as one of the
most "socially liberal" nations in the world.
Canada
generally leans more to the left on social issues than the United
States, where President George W. Bush wants Congress to pass an
amendment to the constitution banning gay marriages.
But
the gay marriage debate is likely to rumble on, and Canada's
opposition Conservatives expect to make the issue a key one in the
next election campaign, likely early next year.
In
December 2000, the Netherlands gave final approval to laws allowing
same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. Dutch law had recognized
registered partnerships since 1998.
In
June 2003, Belgium also allowed marriages between same-sex couples.
Furious
Opposition
The
legislation has been bitterly opposed by conservatives in the
influential Roman Catholic Church and the rightwing opposition Popular
Party, whose leader Mariano Rajoy warned after Thursday's vote that
"the issue will divide Spanish society."
An
estimated half a million people, including many bishops, priests and
nuns, turned out to demonstrate against the new law last weekend in
central Madrid.
Saturday's
event was organized by the Forum for the Family, Spain's association
of pro-Catholic pressure groups, which claims to have collected more
than a million signatures against the legislation demanding a
referendum on the issue.
Anti-gay
marriage groups had already previously collected half a million
signatures opposing the bill when it was approved on its first reading
in April.
However,
polls have showed that around three-quarters of the electorate in fact
support the government's liberal agenda and that even if most
Spaniards describe themselves as Roman Catholics, they see the Church
as out of touch with popular feeling.
