I now pronounce you husband and SUV

We bears (and gays) have been hearing fundamentalist Christians arguing against gay marriage for a while. One of the reasons they usually point out is that "marriage can only take place between a man and a woman" and if we allow other genres to marry, such would lead to a weird what's next, as in "humans marrying their pets" et al.  Another feature of born again Christians, like president George W. Bush, is their abhorrence of alcoholic beverages.

Well, I have eventually found the proof that they are really right in their appreciations. See what a combination of liquor and free marriage can lead to:

Spain pre-election promises, promises, promises...

With most eyes focused on the American campaign, I've just following, like most Spaniards, the moves of our pre-elections season. Eventually, the Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy disclosed some amount of the changes to bring about on society: contract agreements for immigrants to "behave like Spaniards" and "fulfill the existing laws" (I had never guessed that any person coming to Spain, tourist or permanent settler, had not the obligation to respect and fulfill our laws, and that Spanish behavior might mean they will have to shout and scream in bars for most of the Saturday evening, drive fast and half drunk, and learn how to throw papers and all sorts of other rubbish out of the wastecans when walking the streets); of course, on homosexuality the Party is starting to appear more the wolf they are than the sheep: the first (notice: the first) proposal is to ban homosexual marriages from adoption. It's just a first step, I'm afraid, later on it'll come the banning of homosexual marriage too. But the implications are broader: if homosexual couples can't adopt, it must be because they are not able to raise children correctly, and hence... what will we do when a lesbian couple give birth to a baby? Of course, call the social services and find a suitable home. Preferably traditional, catholic, and conservative.

On other parts of the world, Romania's Senate is trying to amend the Romanian Civil Code on marriage to explicitly forbid same-sex marriages, though that's a move which could bring about some sort of admonition from the European Union. When joining the EU in 2007, Romania had to "recognise same-sex couples registered in other member states". A couple of cases brought before the European High Court could oblige lawmakers to rewrite their homophobic moves.

And just two interesting links to finish: Patrick Chapman makes a brief but interesting critic to the NARTH Journey into Straight, showing that studies of ex-gay organizations are not always trustable, while Ziggy on High posts The Gay Agenda according to the US ultraconservatives.

Manifesto pro Family Diversity

Following the recent events in Spain, with the Catholic hierarchy mourning their times of power under the Franco dictatorship, a number of people launched a web/blog under the name Internautas por la Diversidad Familiar, whose manifesto aims, in brief, at promoting equality among all the different family models that coexist in our 21st century societies: monoparental, homoparental and heteroparental, not excluding or promoting any of those over the other, however rejecting the discriminating and excluding attitudes coming from the Catholic hierarchy (and we understand here, that, on extension, from any other excluding attitudes).

It's with joy that Party for the Rights joined the campaign and manifesto, and we will encourage from these pages to all Spain and Spanish speaking readers to go check the site, spread the word, and become more active against any bigotry.

Technorati tags: Family diversity, Blogs, Equality

Latest in 2007: Cuba and Nepal.

On a move that will surely add more fuel to the bonfires the worldwide Christian ultraconservative right lighted against same sex marriages, two nations of the so called Third World ended 2007 with awesome achievements in such a field. In Nepal, the High Court ruled that the government must create new laws to protect gay rights and change current ones that might be tantamount to discrimination. Until some days ago, Nepal was an almost feudal kingdom, but recently the nation has announced plans to transform itself into a republic in 2008 after the Constituent Assembly election, abolishing monarchy.

On the other side of the world, in that tiny green lizard island named Cuba,  Monica and Elizabeth (featured on the picture in the right) dressed in white and staged a marriage, though still with no legal validity. IPS News brings an extensive report of the ceremony, which was supported by government bodies and associations, since the country's preparing to take to parliament a legal reform advocated by CENESEX and the Cuban Women’s Federation calling for the recognition of de facto unions between same-sex couples and equal rights for heterosexual and homosexual couples, as well as eligibility to adopt children and, for women, access to assisted fertilization services.

The legal machinery is already rolling and the initiative may reach parliament in 2008, but no one can predict how long it will take to come to a vote. Meanwhile, CENESEX was advised by the ruling Communist Party to make efforts to prepare the public through a media campaign, says IPS News, but both women's ceremony wasn't intended as part of the media machinery.

Technorati tags: Cuba, Nepal, Same sex marriage, Homosexual rights

City of Rome puppet of Vatican

"The city council in Rome has blocked plans for a domestic partners register for same-sex and heterosexual couples.
The Vatican, which is an independent state within Italy as well as the seat of the Roman Catholic church, had vehemently opposed the measure." From Pink News.

Now it'll be certainly curious to see how Rome, and Italy at large, complies with the newly issued European Union Chart of Rights, given that Italy doesn't have any sort of excluding signature in the same sense that Poland got it, so that rights wouldn't be applied to homosexual citizens. And given that UK civil partnerships are recognized in Spain as marriages, and that seems to be a common trend all over the countries comprising the European Union, one wonders for how long would a British civil partnership stay unrecognized in Italy or Poland. After all, it might be a matter of courts, but in the end we're going to have homosexual marriage in the European Union. Or is this just my wishful thinking?

Technorati tags: Italy, Vatican, Gay marriage, Civil partnerships

Hungary moving away from fascism

While the Budapest's prosecutor "has accused a far-right group recently established in the country of racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism and asked a court to disband it", "Hungary's parliament yesterday approved the Registered Partnership Act. From January 1st 2009 lesbian and gay couples will have almost identical rights as married heterosexual couples in common law", in accordance with the newly signed Chart of Rights for the European Union, which sadly won't be applied in Poland in full, because of Polish authorities' fear that such Chart of Rights could pave the way for homosexuals to become citizens in full.

Technorati tags: Hungary, Poland, European Chart of Rights

I don't heart Huckabee

I'm not sure that Mike Huckabee deserve the time and effort needed to publish an entry here at Party for the Rights, but I got trapped in some sensationalist headline at Gay News Watch, saying that Huckabee Warns Gay Marriage Threatens Civilization. Immediately I thought about Mike depicting hordes of Gay Terrorists crashing red roadsters onto all major Evangelical Churches in America and Europe, in a weird alliance of homosexuality and Islamic integrism; or maybe it was just a matter that now that 16 US Intelligence Bodies have disclosed that Iran stopped any nuclear weapon program back in 2003 George W. Bush "Arbusto" and his gang wanted us to present with, next World War would have to be on homosexuality because conservatives and ultrarreligious fellows always need a foe to fight, be it sin, the devil or the gay family next door. Well, I followed the given link to the GQ interview and I can't find any mention of Western Civilization Downfalling, at least in the Internet version. However, it's certainly curious that former Arkansas Governor (whom I can't really recall whether he was supporting creationism when Republican presidential runners were asked) gave this answer to the question of teaching Evolution at school: "I think people should be exposed to evolution. They should be taught that, yes, this is the prevailing scientific view, but that there are others who happen to view things differently." That's great, and proves my point that Huckabee and similar people will always try to appear the weak side, so that people should be taught that while there is one prevailing view, there are people who have other viewpoints too — except of course when Fundamentalist Christian is the prevailing view, in which case it becomes The One And Only Absolute Truth To Be Followed By Everybody Worldwide, as it's the case with homosexual marriage, just to mention the most obvious.

Or maybe now that Ahmadinejad isn't an atomic foe, they can dine together after executing some more homosexuals.

Technorati tags: Mike Huckabee, homosexual marriage, Christian double rule

Civil unions in Uruguay

"Uruguay will legalize civil unions for homosexuals and heterosexuals next month, making it the first Latin American nation to treat gay and straight couples alike, a lawmaker said Thursday.

Deputies in the early hours of Thursday passed legislation allowing gay and straight couples to form civil unions after living together for at least five years." (SignOnSanDiego.com)

Five years living together before being able to formalize a civil union. For any couple, I don't mean here any sort of homosexual discrimination. But why "religious"-bound couples may be able to formalize their bond almost immediately? A civil union/marriage is not, in my eyes, an instrument to certify that you two have been able to manage your daily living together for some years. It must be a promise to try to bond, and the legal security that your partner won't be stripped from any of your benefits in the case you pass away.

So, while welcoming this Uruguay act, my wishful thinking is for it to be just a first step into more developed forms of unions. Both for homosexual and heterosexual couples.

Technorati tags: Uruguay, Civil Unions, LGBT