Gay Thursday: Viva Espana

The vestiges of the Roman Empire are still with us. In some ways in their pristine state, most evidently in the languages and cultures of the Iberian and Italian peninsulas and their satellite islands. Rome inherited from Greece the penchant for male homosexuality. It's true, get over it. Perhaps it is that cultural strain that still runs through Spain. Thanks to Andy Towle's better than average web log with homosexual tendencies the following was brought to the North American light during this soon to be high pitched electoral year. It is enough to keep the still dead Generalissimo Franco in a sepulchral tail spin.



The President of Spain, Zapatero has this to say:

'We will continue to make reforms to improve the conditions of all," he said in an interview with the monthly gay magazine Zero, where he appeared on the cover for the third time since 2002. 'We must facilitate the implementation of the rights that we have already approved: the right to adoption (for same-sex couples), of course, and the right to legally change sex,' he said. If the conservative opposition Popular Party of Mariano Rajoy wins the election, Zapetero vowed to prevent 'a single step backwards' in the policies of his government. 'I will do whatever possible so that Mr. Rajoy does not withdraw the rights of any family,' he said. Spain became only the third member of the European Union, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to allow same-sex marriages in July 2005 with a law that also legalised adoptions by gays and lesbians. The measure was heavily criticised by the Roman Catholic Church in Spain and a section of the Popular Party. The PP has gone to the constitutional court to challenge the use of the word 'marriage' in the law, and has vowed if elected to withdraw the right of gays and lesbians to adopt. Homosexuality was legalised in Spain in 1979, four years after the death of dictator Francisco Franco whose regime shipped gays to institutions that some activists have likened to concentration camps. 'We are the envy of other countries for what we have achieved (on gay rights), and we have the support of a lot of countries,' said Zapatero."




From Wikipedia:

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (born 4 August 1960), better known under his second surname Zapatero, is the President of the Government of Spain. The party he leads, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), won the general election on 14 March 2004. Actions of his government have included withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq, a failed and controversial negotiation with the armed separatist group ETA, the creation of Spanish Courts for Violence against Women, legalizing same-sex marriages and a program of amnesty for undocumented immigrants.