[Vision2020] Spain Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (July 1, 2005) Spokesman Review with a heart-felt gracias to
Spain -

Perhaps we should consider outsourcing our government.

Thoughts?

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Spain legalizes same-sex marriage 

Associated Press
July 1, 2005

MADRID, Spain - At the historic Congress of Deputies, pandemonium erupted.
Conservatives shouted in fury. Gay activists collapsed in tears. Some began
making wedding plans - or at least deciding who'd pop the question, now that
they could.

The 350-seat Congress of Deputies, by a vote of 187-147 with four
abstentions, approved the measure to give homosexual couples the same rights
as heterosexual ones, including the right to adopt children.

Inside the stately 19th-century chamber where other chapters of Spanish
history have been written, several conservative Popular Party members rose
and yelled: "This is a disgrace."

Outside, activists jumped for joy and waved rainbow flags symbolizing the
international gay rights movement.

Gay couples can get married as soon as the law is published in the official
government registry - as early as today. 

The Netherlands and Belgium are the only other two countries that recognize
gay marriage nationwide. The Netherlands lets gays adopt children. 

Canada's House of Commons passed legislation Tuesday that would legalize gay
marriage by the end of July as long as the Senate also passes the bill,
which it is expected to do.

In the United States, Massachusetts is the only state to recognize gay
marriage. Vermont and Connecticut have approved same-sex civil unions.

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they
are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say
about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

-- Robert F. Kennedy