Gay Marriage Law
Sparks Rally in Spain
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, July 3, 2005
MADRID, Spain -- Tens of
thousands of people, many dancing or banging drums, packed the streets of Madrid
on Saturday to celebrate Spain's new law legalizing gay marriage.
''This is infinitely gay. There are no words to express it,'' Ivan
Sanchez, a 26-year-old pharmacist, said as the throng snaked its way through the
capital.
Flatbed trucks crowded with young men and women honked their horns as they made
their way through the streets under a blazing summer sun in a procession led by
Culture Minister Carmen Calvo and other members of the governing Socialist
party, which sponsored the law.
''Now that some of us are more free, all Spaniards are more free,'' said Cholo
Soto, 30, a government clerk who joined the march.
The Interior Ministry put attendance at 100,000, but the turnout looked much
bigger.
The rally culminated by spilling into Plaza de Colon.
In the same square in 2003, the late Pope John Paul II said Mass for an
estimated 1 million people and said traditionally Roman Catholic Spain had to
re-embrace its religious roots. The church is vehemently opposed to the new
same-sex marriage law.
Gay couples are not expected to start getting married until late this month
because of pre-ceremony paperwork, according to Spain's main federation of gays
and lesbians, known as the FELGT.
The law gives same-sex couples the right to wed, adopt children and inherit each
other's property, making their legal status the same as that of heterosexual
couples.
Spain is the third country in the world to grant full recognition to gay
marriage. The others are the Netherlands and Belgium. Canada is expected
to follow suit later this month.
Several European countries and a few U.S. states recognize civil unions among
same-sex couples but this falls short of treating them like married couples.
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