Expatica news

Spanish upper house vetoes gay marriage bill

23 June 2005

MADRID — The Spanish senate has vetoed a bill to allow gay marriage, but the lower house is expected to override the veto

The lower house will take up the measure again on 30 June after which the bill is expected to become law.

The moderate Catalan nationalist party Convergencia y Union (CiU) said three of its members would abstain and three would vote to veto the measure.

The CiU senators said they were against the bill, with party spokesman Pere Macias adding it had “deeply divided our country”.

The bill would give homosexuals equal rights to those enjoyed by heterosexuals, and – the Socialist government says – would eliminate “unjustified discrimination”.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people participated in a march called by the Catholic Forum of the Family with the support of the conservative main opposition Popular Party, in which about 20 Spanish Catholic Church leaders – including Madrid’s cardinal and archbishop, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela – also took part.

The Spanish Bishops Conference said later the fact a portion of society opposed homosexual marriage should cause the government to reflect “on the necessity of not promoting laws that seriously injure the common good”.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news