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My head aches like crazy and I drank too much. Long, long night down in bradenton. Well, here's a little news story about gay marriage in Spain.

 

 

 

Gay marriage law in Spain

By Pierre Ausseill

July 05, 2005

From: Agence France-Presse

A SPANISH law allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children officially took effect overnight, amid rejoicing by gays and lesbians but resentment among conservative MPs and the Catholic church.

 

Homosexual couples were for the first time able to request a date to formalise their partnership at town halls armed with nothing more than proper identification and proof of residence.

Last week saw legislation by the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero come to the statute book making Spain only the third country in the world after Belgium and the Netherlands to legalise gay and lesbian marriage, while Canada stands on the threshold.

 

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Zapatero said the move was "a step which raises the level of decency in Spain," ending the "legal marginalisation of people according to their sexual orientation".

 

The law has seen Spain update its civil code to the extent that the word "spouses" may henceforward be of a different or the same sex.

 

Speculation in the media focused on when the first gay union would actually go ahead.

 

El Pais daily said it would depend on how many outstanding ceremonies town halls have to perform.

 

The current backlog ranges from as little as a week in the small central town of Tomelloso to four months in Madrid.

 

Pedro Zerolo, who liaises between non-governmental groups and the ruling Socialist Party and who played a key role in drawing up the legislation passed on Thursday, said he had noted requests from 32 couples to his office in the Madrid municipal council.

 

Nonetheless, despite the delight of the gay community, the legislation has deeply divided Spain more than any other since the formal introduction of divorce laws in the early 1980s.

 

On the liberal side of the argument are young Spaniards whose liberalism is in line with the likes of openly gay film director Pedro Almodovar and who identify with the country's "movida" libertarian movement of the 1980s.

 

On the other are the forces of traditional conservatism led by the still influential Catholic church.

 

Both camps have been vocal in their respective support and opposition.

 

On June 18 a demonstration called by the church to protest the gay marriage bill drew hundreds of thousands of people in central Madrid, with some 20 bishops marching at their head.

 

At the same time, almost as many pro gay marriage supporters marched and on Saturday saw up to 2 million people turn out, according to organisers, for the annual Gay Pride march in the capital, at which many participants chanted anti-Church slogans.

 

"Against a black and white Spain, we affirm rainbow Spain," said the chairman of one homosexual group, alluding to the hundreds of rainbow flags decorating the city over the weekend, particularly the gay quarter of Chueca.

 

The Vatican, which over the weekend denounced the law's passing as "a defeat for humanity," was adopting a more contrite tone today.

 

Pope Benedict XVI received a group of pilgrims from Madrid in the Vatican and used the visit as an opportunity to say that the Church in Spain should reach out to those who have rejected its message, in an apparent allusion to the new legislation.

 

Before the audience, the Pope met privately with Madrid Archbishop Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela.

 

However, in his address to pilgrims, the cardinal lambasted the new law, describing it as "a denial not only of faith, but of human reason itself".

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you need to spend less time concentrating on my sexual habits and more time 'growing up' :rolleyes:

 

That's the same kind of blinkered view that we're trying to eliminate on here in relation to homosexuality.......................................far too much assumption that people should fit to some kind of "stereotype" based on society's perceived "norms". :smug:

 

 

 

 

this is the biggest crock of shite I have ever read in my entire life... I am now stooopider for having read it... :rolleyes:

 

Pity! :) You want "seriousness" - that's what happens! :) I prefer the light-hearted stuff myself. :)

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The United Church of Christ, which includes 1.3 million members, on Monday became the largest Christian denomination in the U.S. to endorse same-sex marriage.

 

Approximately 80 percent of the church's General Synod, a biennial meeting of UCC

 

 

 

 

 

delegates, voted to approve a resolution in support of equal marriage rights for all people, regardless of gender. It marks the first time that one of the nation's mainstream churches has expressed support of marriages for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, according to The Associated Press.

 

The resolution calls on member churches of the denomination to consider wedding policies "that do not discriminate against couples based on gender," and asks the churches to consider supporting legislation that would grant equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples and to work against laws banning gay marriage, according to the AP. The vote is not binding on individual churches, but the move could cause some affiliates to leave the UCC.

 

Delegates debated the resolution for nearly an hour at Atlanta's Georgia World Conference Center on Monday before casting a majority vote in favor of the resolution. The document was altered by only one amendment, which expressed a "spirit of concern for those who must deal with the resolution's impact in the coming months," according to United Church News, the national news service of the UCC.

 

After the vote passed, couples of all ages and genders met in tearful embraces to celebrate the victory and listened to Reverend John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, as he addressed the crowd.

 

"On this July 4th, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ has acted courageously to declare freedom, affirming marriage equality, affirming the civil rights of same-gender couples to have their relationships recognized as marriages by the state, and encouraging our local churches to celebrate and bless those marriages," Thomas said.

 

Thomas also acknowledged that the issue of gay marriage and marriage equality are "sources of great conflict" not only in society, but in churches as well. The UCC, he said, "is no exception" and "there are clearly great differences among our own members over this." He added that the action by the Synod "does not presume a consensus of opinion among our members of our local churches, which are free and responsible to come to their own mind on this as on any other issue."

 

However, one prominent supporter of the resolution was Reverend Andrew Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta, and a lifelong member of the UCC. Just days before the vote was scheduled to take place, Young issued a statement saying he hoped the General Synod would approve the resolution affirming same-sex marriage equality.

 

"I'd be disappointed if we did not approve this resolution," he said on Friday. "I think it would be consistent with our historic spirit of fairness and justice, but it also would be consistent with the spirit of grace and mercy as the path to peace and that you judge not that you not be judged."

 

The United Church of Christ, founded in 1957, has a strong tradition of supporting societal change. The church declared itself to be "open and affirming" of gays and lesbians 20 years ago, and in the 1970s, it became the first major Christian church to ordain an openly gay minister.

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