Portugal Takes Leap Towards Gay Marriage

By C-Fam Staff | January 8, 2010

Today Portugal’s parliament voted to take the first steps towards legalizing homosexual marriage.

Parliament also voted today to deny a petition organized by pro-life groups and signed by over 90,000 Portuguese for a national referendum on the issue.  
 
The AFP reports that the homosexual marriage vote came with “little public controversy.” While BBC News reports that, “The law has been fiercely opposed by conservatives in the Catholic country.”  A Catholic country by 84%. Which is it?

While it is hard to discount the power of 90,000 signatures, LifeSiteNews sheds some light on why the opposition may not have been as robust as would be expected. Cardinal Archbishop José Policarpo of Lisbon apparently agreed to a “pact of silence” with Portugal’s Prime Minister José Socrates to not fight “him on the issue.” A few months ago Cardinal Policarpo publicly stated that he “favors legal privileges for homosexual couples” but not “marriage.”

They also report that this week Cardinal Policarpo “stated publicly that he had instructed parishes not to participate in the petition drive.”

There is no doubt that, with the support of the Cardinal, or at least if his eminence refrained from disallowing his parishes to participate, the opposition could have been much greater. Now if the bill passes its final review, Portugal will join the other European countries Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain in legalizing homosexual marriage.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter