- President Anibal Cavaco Silva
On the heels of the defeat of marriage equality in New Jersey, Portugal’s Parliament passed same-sex marriage by a 125-99 vote. The bill simply removes language from the law that currently says marriage is between two people of different sexes. The new law will say marriage is between two people.
The conservative president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, is not likely to veto the bill. If he does sign it, marriage should become legal in the country by April. Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden are the other European countries with marriage equality.
Homosexuality was a crime in Portugal until 1982. The country has had civil unions since 2001.
We have heard the “will of the people” statement a lot recently from opponents of marriage equality.
In the southern US in the 1960’s the “will of the people” would have been to keep slavery, segregation.
In the 1920’s the “will of the people” would have been to continue to deny women the right to vote.
I all three cases the will of the people is simply wrong, and I am ashamed at the cowardly politicians voting against the right thing – equality.
Bill I agree and see your point – we shouldn’t have to vote on the marriage issue. Here in Mexico City – they Catholics are going crazy because we now have same sex marriage. If it had been a “will of the people” it never would have happened. Viva la Vida
It’s more important that same-sex couples can jointly adopt legally than being able to marry. Unfortunately, the Parliament of Portugal decided not to recognise some families.
The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself. Our society has lost its values and morals, just turn to your news stations. We’ve got a serious crisis on the horizon.
“Look at Carthage, the Phoenician empire was much more powerful than Rome for a period of time. But Carthage had a religion that offered human sacrifice of babies. Eventually it degraded from within and collapsed on itself.”
Same-sex marriage is a legally recognized marriage between two persons of the same biological sex. Same-sex marriage is a civil rights, political, social, moral, and religious issue in many nations.
It’s more important that same sex couples can adopt the marriage.
Thanks for this nice blog!