Spain to legalize homogamy.

Madrid -- On October 1, 2004, the Spanish cabinet proposed legislation permitting homosexuals to marry, adopt children, and receive pension and retirement benefits from one another. This legislation, which is expected to pass after debate in the Congress of Deputies, follows on previous legal amendments to allow easier divorce and to restrict public-school religious instruction, as well as state-church subsidies.

The Catholic Church, both in Spain and in Rome, is voicing strong opposition to all these measures. But the campaign of legal status for same-sex "marriage" is driven by the same arguments as elsewhere: government spokesmen and media claim ten per cent of the people are homosexual, same-sex parents are just as good as normal parents, and there are no adverse effects on children being brought up by them, all supposedly based on "scientific" studies. However, as soon as the 'studies" are checked, they are found to be gravely deficient. The socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, supported by several smaller left-wing parties, believes it has sufficient votes to pass the new proposals into law. Zapatero came to power in March, 2004.

Spain would be the third European country to legalize "gay marriage" if the proposed law is passed. Meanwhile, on July 8, 2004, more than 1500 members of a "gay" collective formally renounced their Catholic faith in an act of mass apostasy over the issue of same-sex "marriage." They demanded that the Church "stop interfering in secular society," and that the signatories' names be erased from all church records within ten days (The Tablet, July 17, 2004).