The Spanish Congress of Deputies passed the measure by a 187-147 vote, with four abstentions. The bill, part of the ruling Socialists aggressive agenda for social reform, also lets same-sex couples adopt children, and inherit each others property. While the Senate, where conservatives hold the largest number of seats, rejected the bill the week before the vote for marriage, the Senate is only an advisory body. Final say on legislation rests with the Congress of Deputies. The new law states: Matrimony shall have the same requirements and effects regardless of whether the persons involved are of the same or different sex.Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero told the chamber before the vote: We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality.Zapatero said the reform of Spains legal code simply adds one dry paragraph, however, it means much, much more. He called it: a small change in wording that means an immense change in the lives of thousands of citizens. We are not legislating, ladies and gentlemen, for remote unknown people. We are expanding opportunities for the happiness of our neighbors, our work colleagues, our friends, our relatives.[For Zapateros full speech, please see our article: Freedom and Equality / La Libertad y La Igualdad] Zapatero lacked a majority in the chamber, but got help from small regionally based parties that tend to be his allies. When the bill was first announced, the Roman Catholic Church launched a barrage of written and demonstration protests. They continue to rail against granting equal treatment to same-sex couples. Late in 2004, Antonio Martinez Camino, spokesman for the Spanish Bishops Conference, said that allowing same-sex marriage was like imposing a virus on society. Something false that will have negative consequences for social life. Pope Benedict has condemned gay marriage as an expression of anarchic freedom, and his predecessor, John Paul, had urged Spain to remember its Catholic roots. However, a survey released in May 2005 by pollster Instituto Opina stated that 62 percent of Spaniards supported the governments action, and only 30 percent opposed it. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. The survey showed Spaniards about evenly split over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children. In June 2005, a court in the northeastern Catalonia region had ruled that a Spanish man could not wed his Indian partner because India does not allow same-sex marriage. However, on August 8, the official government registry, the Boletin Oficial del Estado, published a ruling by Spains justice ministry that the marriage law allows same-sex marriage to a foreigner regardless of whether that persons homeland recognizes the partnership. During the first six months since June 2005 when same-sex marriage were offered 425 same-sex couples from all over the country were married. The first same-sex couple to marry was Emilio Menendez and Carlos Baturin, who had been together for 30 years. Carlos Baturin said in a Reuters report, July 6, 2006: We are a family, we feel like a family, the public accepts us as a family. If (the Catholic Church) specifically wants to exclude us, well then I dont want to go their party.Emilio Menendez: Im not surprised they dont see us as a family but its just a question of time. The Church is very, very, very slow: four, five, six centuries behind. There are many different types of family. What defines a family is not my sex, my color, or anything but rather the desire to stay together, to love each other.Asked what he would say to the Pope if he were granted an audience, Menendez said: Christ said the most important commandment was to love each other.In the summer of 2005, a member of the Civil Guard, a quasi-police force that reports to the Interior Ministry, married his lifelong, same-sex partner and both were allowed to live in his barracks. By July 2006, 4,500 same-sex couples married. 50 of these couples applied for adoption, and three filed for divorce, according to the Spanish gay, lesbian and transsexual organization FELGT. In a poll released on April 21, 2006, 61 percent agree with the governments decision to legalize same-sex marriage. The poll was conducted by Instituto Opina and released by Cadena Ser. On September 15, 2006, two male air force privates were wed in Seville, Spain, the first known marriage of two Spanish military servicemen. The two grooms, both named Alberto, received permission to wear their military uniforms during the wedding, but in the end decided against it to avoid antagonizing those who oppose the union. Said one of the grooms: We know we are in the armed forces and this is touchy because we are not gardeners, but rather soldiers. I know there are superior officers who will make life difficult for me, and they are already doing so..The grooms were married by Seville Mayor Alfredo Sanchez Monteseirin at town hall. The mayor is a member of the ruling Socialist party, which legalized same-sex marriage and has pushed through other liberal laws including fast-track divorce, and allowing for medically assisted fertilization. The laws have irked the Roman Catholic church and the countrys conservative establishment, which has accused the government of tearing away at the nations traditional values. But the wedding has barely caused a ripple of controversy in Spanish society. Unlike the United States, Spain has no law against homosexuals serving in the military. A 2008 study found that 66 percent of Spaniards approve of the marriage law. In its first three years, more than 12,000 same-sex marriages were celebrated. To have be legally married in Spain, at least one of the marriage partners must have been resident for at least two years and hold a residency card.
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