When Manel Mira was born in 1970s Portugal, homosexuality was a crime, she said to sphere.com. The Catholic Church held sway among the throngs of black-clad widows shuffling down his cobblestone alleyway. The country had a right-wing military dictatorship and a third of the population couldn’t read. This is the same country that ;legalized abortion only two years ago!
How much this little Atlantic country has changed since then!
Portugal’s parliament approved a measure Friday to legalize gay marriage, paving the way for the conservative Catholic nation to become the sixth in Europe to allow homosexuals to get married. The bill now goes back to a committee for review before a final vote. Then if the president signs it – as he’s expected to do – Portugal’s first gay wedding could take place around April.
Gay activists Joana Manuel, center, and Raquel Freire, right, celebrate in front of the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon Friday after parliament approved plans to legalize gay marriage.
Ironically, that’s just weeks ahead of a planned visit from Pope Benedict XVI.
Mira, a volunteer at Portugal’s branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), said he’s “absolutely ecstatic” about Friday’s vote. “We’ve lobbied for this moment for the past 10 years.”
“But it’s not just our victory, it’s a victory for all – opening up rights to everybody,” the 36-year-old Lisbon native said.
Gay rights campaigners applauded Friday from parliament’s galleries and champagne corks sailed into the air outside. They sliced into a huge tiered wedding cake on parliament’s steps, festooned with two bride dolls and two grooms. Dozens of rainbow flags fluttered in the chilly Atlantic breeze.
The measure passed parliament along party lines with the support of the ruling Socialists led by Prime Minister Jose Socrates. He said the bill aimed to remedy decades of injustice toward gays in Portugal.
“I am of a generation – as we all are – which is not proud of the way it treated homosexuals,” Socrates told lawmakers. He also sought to reassure more conservative Portuguese citizens about the move.
“This is a step that will seem completely natural in the near future, in the same way that gender equality, abortion rights and unmarried couples living together are normal now,” he said.
Allowing gay couples to wed had been one of Socrates’ campaign promises in last year’s election. That poll brought Portugal’s first openly-gay lawmaker, Miguel Vale de Almeida, into parliament.
Opposition parties largely voted against the bill Friday, and are calling instead for a national referendum on the issue. They believe it will have less chance of getting a popular majority in this historically religious and conservative country.
Some 85 percent of Portuguese citizens identify themselves as Catholic, though only about 20 percent go to church every week. Village churches still play a key role in community life, with bells tolling hourly and businesses shut on Sundays.
The Vatican has largely stayed out of the gay marriage debate in Portugal, with Lisbon’s Cardinal Patriarch Jose Policarpo saying the issue is “parliament’s responsibility.” That stance contrasts with what happened when neighboring Spain legalized gay marriage in 2005. The church condemned the idea there and called for the ouster of Socialist politicians who supported the law.
“It’s a slow process, but I think this country is changing,” said Miguel Lourenco, who last year founded Rainbow Services Portugal, a company that provides tour guides for gay travelers.
The nation’s new tourism slogan is “Portugal: Europe’s West Coast” – aspiring toward comparisons with California’s sunshine, high-tech economy and liberal outlook. And in many ways Portugal is much more like California than, say, New Jersey, where the state senate this past week defeated a bill that would allow gay marriage.
Same-sex marriage is allowed in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Canada and South Africa, as well as in five U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
In 2001, gay couples in Portugal won the right to have civil unions, in which they were granted certain legal, tax and property rights. But they were not allowed to take their partner’s name, nor inherit possessions or state pension money – all of which are allowed under marriage.
Despite approving gay marriage, Portugal’s parliament on Friday voted down another measure that would have allowed same-sex couples to adopt children. There is obviously a lot of work to be done!
