Bromosexuales dentro del armario

Escribe el magistrado De Domingo Martínez en La Opinión de Murcia acerca de fútbol y conceptos vertidos, según él, en la radiofonía de la madrugada post-clásico:

…volví a escuchar la radio, y descubrí un nuevo concepto que ignoraba, el de 'bromosexual', que los comentaristas lo aplicaban presuntamente a tres jugadores del Madrid.

Luego “divaga” y concluye que:

Se trata de un subgrupo de los homosexuales. Es un varón abiertamente gay, tomado frecuentemente por heterosexual entre la gente de su entorno. Es decir, aquella persona del sexo masculino que tiene rasgos y comportamiento de heterosexual, y que sin embargo es gay. O lo que es igual, que aún no ha salido del armario. Cosa que me parece muy bien, pues hasta ahí podíamos llegar.

Y aquí es donde hay algo que chirría. Perdone su señoría, pero un varón abiertamente gay ha tenido que, sí o sí, salir del armario. Y no, no es una persona del sexo masculino que tiene “rasgos y comportamiento de heterosexual”. No hay “rasgos y comportamiento de heterosexual”, queridos míos, ni tampoco hay “rasgos y comportamiento de homosexual”. Es decir, más allá del comportamiento sexual que tan queda definido por los prefijos “hetero-“ (diferente) u “homo-“ (igual). El resto son falacias, poses y máscaras. Osos hay (habemos) que disfrutamos sin fin con un buen partido de fútbol en el bar, regado con cerveza (particularmente yo, Estrella de Galicia, y este post no está patrocinado, aviso), y respetables padres de familia que se mueven con más plumas que las que en su día guardó el Baúl de la Piquer. En Chueca.com van a definir la “bromosexualidad” con un “¿Se puede ser abiertamente homosexual y pasar por hetero?”

Y claro que sí, en ese sentido somos muchos “bromosexuales” los que andamos por el mundo, entre otras cosas porque no solemos llevar sombra de ojos arco-iris, ni al salir del armario firmamos un compromiso que nos obligue a ponernos un pin que diga “Soy Gay” en la solapa, ni a anteponer la palabra “homosexual” a nuestro nombre: “Hola, ¿qué tal estás? Encantado de conocerte, me llamo Andrea” “Igualmente, yo soy Juan y soy gay”.

Otro asunto, que personalmente me preocupa mucho más, es el de en qué términos y en qué radio andaban “los comentaristas” hablando de bromosexuales del Madrid. Aunque, sabiendo que el mayor misterio de las retransmisiones deportivas es que el comentarista de televisión casi siempre se limita a describir lo que vemos, mientras que el comentarista de radio anuncia todo lo anunciable y se despreocupa de lo que ocurre en el terreno de juego hasta que suena el “gooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllll”… y es que, algún comentarista de según que radio, puede llamarte “cabrón hijoputa” como apelativo cariñoso. Donde no hay modales, qué vas a esperar.

Y sí, suena raro ver así un post en español en el blog este después de tanto tiempo, pero ya avisé hace unas semanas que lo mismo me ponía a hacer lo que me diera la gana un poco. Saludos.

The Spanish Larry Craig

Though "Larry Craig" wouldn't define well this Spanish politician and Tax Office clerk. Javier Rodrigo de Santos, formerly vice major in Palma de Mallorca, spent the amount of 50,804 Euro in gay relax services, disguised as "Public Relations Consulting" from the public budget of Palma Townhall. It couldn't be otherwise, the man is known to have refused to celebrate homosexual marriages while in office (objecting to those because of moral issues), though celebrated the Pope's visit to Valencia in 2006 and stands as an ultra Catholic. Ethics and morals, of course. Full information, in Spanish, in El Pais.

And elections in Spain...

As most of you have already read in the news, Spain's election has been won by the Socialists. Headlines such as "Pro-gay Zapatero defeats conservatives" and the like appeared in most gay media. However, the Socialist party is not pro-gay, just pro-equality. My two cents (of Euro).

Ah, those Roman Catholics...

While the Pope himself praised the anti-homosexual policies undertaken in the United States, the Spanish Episcopal Conference elected a new head yesterday. During the last years, the main Catholic hierarchy body in Spain had been headed by bishop Blazquez of Bilbao, who held conciliatory views on most social aspects of life, including dialogue with non ultra-Catholic groups. However, bishops Rouco of Madrid and Cañizares of Toledo, known in the leftist blogosphere as "the Toños" seem to have succeeded in renewing (in this case re-olding) Catholic views in Spain. The most ultraconservative views both bishops represent have been raised up and now Archbishop Antonio Maria Rouco Varela holds the position of President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference. Hopefully, Rouco will be celebrating his designation for a few days so that he won't immediately try to change the sign of the March 9th election in Spain, which he has already tried to influence during a mass demonstration in December 30th, 2007, with the Popular Party, allegedly the second political force in Spain, honeymooning with the Church. As the Financial Times puts it:

Instead of acting as a parliamentary opposition, the PP has tried to impugn constitutionally major initiatives of the Socialists, in an effort to paralyse government. Mariano Rajoy, its lacklustre leader, has failed to emerge from the shadow of José María Aznar, the former prime minister, and has colluded in a hysterical campaign by the Catholic hierarchy that calls into question the legitimacy of the government.

So, as we say around here, "el pescado está vendido". We'll see next monday if homosexuals can keep our rights here in Spain, or we'll have to seek for asylum in a much less Catholic place.

Ego sum ecclesia

Mariano Rajoy, the Popular Party candidate, opened last midnight the election campaign in Cadiz, in what he deemed a homage to the Spanish Constitution of 1812. For those not much versed in Constitutional Law, just remind that the article 12th of the Spanish Constitution of 1812 established that the One and Only Religion to be practiced in Spain had to be the Roman Catholic. All others banned. But that was the 19th century, or is it today? Monsignor Rouco must have had several orgasms at Rajoy's words... Oops, bishops don't have orgasms, sorry. It's called "ecstatic ecstasy".

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.

Social change in Spain

EDGE Los Angeles publishes an interesting article about how Spanish society has evolved since Francisco Franco's death in 1975. Though I might not agree with some of the views of Cotarelo, it's clear that we're living in a much open place than we were under the omnipresent wings of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. However, back in 2004 when, after March 11th Atocha Train Bombings elections were held in March 14th, it was not "centrist votes" which were crucial for the Socialist party to get into power, but the mobilization of the leftist votes. This section of voters seem to be on a sort of laissez faire when it comes to polls, and mobilize only when some sort of political disaster — as could be, for instance, giving power to a party which would fulfill all the Roman Catholic Hierarchy demands — is foreseen. That is what happened in 2004, and if things go like they are going right now, with bishops interfering in the political campaign, it's quite likely that the progressive, leftist electors will vote en masse again. 

It's February First

And it seems I can be back to blogging after a (much needed) forced break. In the meantime, the world doesn't seem to have changed a lot in regards to homosexuality and our issues. Churches worldwide continue their crusade against abomination with no less strength than ever. My friend NG sent me a brief note saying that the bishop of Tenerife stepped back his former statements on homosexuality and altar boys; No, it's not true. Bishop keeps as lewd as ever, and you better not be around him if you're below 14 or he'll sue you for asking him for sexual favors. The rest of the Spanish Catholic hierarchy stepped into the political debate (we'll be on election next March 9th) by recommending to vote that party which "will never negotiate a peaceful ending to Basque terrorism, which will abolish abortion and divorce laws, and put an end to the abominable depravation of same sex marriage". Among other points, Archbishop of Madrid asked for Catechism to be re-introduced into the Spanish K12 curricula as compulsory subject, and he's expected to keep asking, as the political campaign go on, to re-introduce Catholic Religion as compulsory for Spaniards, as well as General Francisco Franco to be resuscitated from among the dead, or if such a miracle is not possible via the Vatican, at least to sanctify Franco, his generals, and all participants in the Holy Crusade that was 1936 Spanish Civil War. By March 1st, it's expected that Monsignor Rouco Varela be asking to reintroduce the Holy Inquisition, bonfires for witchcraft practitioners and for all those who can't prove to be Old Christians. By March 9th, it'll be likely that, at least in Spain, the earth to cease moving around the sun, and the latter start moving around the earth, which will become a flat planet.

A bit busy lately

But still had some time to browse through the week's news, choosing the worst of them all in Cameroon, another nation which has sentenced three guys to six years of hard labor just for being gay. That's fair justice and treatment, absolute equal rights. One wonders if heterosexuals would be given equal sentences in a gay-leaded country. And speaking of country leaders, from inside Spain it doesn't seem that next March 9th election will only depend on gay marriage, as Deutsche Welle puts it. No, even though the Roman Catholic hierarchy is actively fighting everything they deem as sin, some days ago the Popular Party leader, Mr. Rajoy, said that his party position on gay marriage is to let it be as is. It's of course not clear whether them, the right side of the political spectrum, would amend the gay marriage law if they could obtain Congress majority enough to govern alone.

On the northeastern side of Europe, Topix says that Lithuania is facing the Council of Europe censure over their position on homosexual rights. There must be something in advantage when your country belongs to the European Union, the Bill of Rights is common for all countries (except for Poland, but it'll change too). However, on Eastern Europe, "Metropolitan Kirill, Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, has made a strong statement condemning societal acceptance of homosexuality and reaffirming the task of the Church to proclaim the truth". Of course, it's a religious thing, what else can they say?

Well, I guess it's been all for today. I promise I'll try to keep updating for the weekend, but forgive me if I'm sending scarce posts till after Carnival... A man also needs a bit of free time for himself. Cheers.

Why Spain, Mr. Pope?

Pink News cuts short the recent events in Spain about the Roman Catholic church and the Government confronting. For the last three years, after securing a part of the nation's budget for their organization (something that no other officially registered religion, much less those non-registered, has achieved), Catholic hierarchy in Spain has been confronting the government either directly via their pastoral letters and speeches, or indirectly via the COPE Radio Broadcasting Network, which belongs to the Roman Catholic Church.

The last drop in this chain of events seems to have been a demonstration that Archbishops called to, held on December 30th, and to which Pink News makes wide reference. After such demonstration, officers of the government, as well as the prime minister himself, answered firmly, though not to the point of freezing the Church public budget. But, why Spain, precisely?

There may be two key reasons to stage some sort of war over power in Spain, from the Catholic Church standpoint: both intertwined and both dependant on each other. During the last decades, Catholic churches have been witnessing their own decay in Spain, which under Franco's dictatorship was one of the most Catholic nations of the world (practically, Sunday mass was sort of compulsory for every person). Even though key government and state officials still attend religious festivals, and the Royal Family keeps the tradition of marrying and baptizing their offspring inside the Roman Catholic Church, the majority of Spain's population is Catholic just namely, with little attendance to mass, and much less devotion. Though many people still want to marry in the church, a lot of persons have been dropping from weekly practice. Baptizing events, first communions, marriages are more a social event than anything religious. That perception, along with the promised educational budget which the Popular Party couldn't fulfill after being thrown out of the government in March 2004, and its consequent output of new, more secular education curricula for K-12 and High School, are putting the Catholic Church in a clear defensive position. They lose power every day.

But Ignacio Escolar points out another reason, much more important. The Vatican sees Spain as the key to Latin America, and if Spanish youth looses its religious commitment (Vatican means Catholic, of course), then it's quite likely that Latin American youth start demanding equal rights in the same way Spain implemented same sex marriage, abortion, divorce, and the like. That's why the battle for Spain is fierce. Not forgetting that in Latin America, Evangelical churches are gaining momentum.

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

Recap of the year - Spain December 30

It was already by early December that the highest hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church called to a demonstration to be held on December 30th in Madrid. The motto of such mass movement, they said, was to promote Family.

Traditional catholic family, that is. Rouco Varela and other ultraconservative monsignori e prelatti dalla chiesa have been claiming, protesting and warning that divorce, abortion and same sex marriage only could lead to dismembration of the whole society, war, and destruction. If people were less read than we are today, Rouco would have possibly blamed famines, hurricanes, earthquakes and the whole War on Terror on same sex marriage. Not many of you, readers, may remember when cardinal Rouco claimed and shouted, just some months before July 2005, that the gates of Hell would literally open on Madrid if Spain dared to legalize same sex unions. But it's not just that issue today. Abortion (they claim to be pro-life but never moved a single finger to protest war or starvation), divorce (Roman Catholics would not recognize divorce, but the Church's got its own court where, if you have money enough, you can have your marriage removed), an educational reform introducing a new, much needed subject, Education for Citizenship, which Rouco and his adlatere find partisan and interested (they would instead teach the Roman Catholic Catechism, of course)... and their own political support for the most right-winged parties, that led to call for such a demonstration.

With invaluable support from autonomic authorities in Madrid, who are close to the Opus Dei or the Legion of Christ, the Spanish Roman Catholic Church staged a reunion of Catechism thumpers. Estimated figures ranged a lot depending on them being Church estimates, police estimates or whatever. Some people said there were more than 1 million people. According to an independent blog which took in charge making estimations for Madrid's demonstration, there were between 80,000 and 150,000 people in such demonstration. But don't worry, Jesus loves you, and will multiply demonstrators the same way he did with fish and bread.

Eventually, some intelligent guy said what must be said about such people. El Teleoperador writes, in Spanish, that:

Christians should be demanding for free abortion, for express divorce and for same sex marriage worldwide, because forbidding these things deprivates them (Christians) from proving the Lord the strenght of their faith. Christians should demand such rights first, then renounce them, and try to convice the rest of us to renounce too. That's what logic says, no? But of course which logic could be embedded within people who believe they can talk to doves?

Party for the Rights will be partying for all our rights extensively today, wishing you all a Happy New Year. Take good care, stay cool, keep safe, and do nothing we wouldn't party about.

Blame it on the teens

Incredible as it could seem, Bernardo Alvarez, bishop of Tenerife (Roman Catholic) said that "there may be, and in fact there are, teens no more than 13 years old, that not only want but provoke molesting" in the sexual sense of the word (as if it had any other), informs El Pais, in an interview on the Canary Islands newspaper La Opinion.

In less politically correct words, Bishop Alvarez says that if you're a teen in the islands and want to sing in your church's choir you'd better be an ugly, chubby boy, unless the bishop himself gets turned on by chubbies and cubs, in which case you'd have the chance to be molested by higher hierarchies of the Catholic Church.

Traditionally, April's Fools Day in Spain is being celebrated on December 28th. I'm writing this thing 30 minutes before dec 28th starts so it's no joke.

Technorati tags: Abominations and Deadly Sins, Catholic church molesters

Tonsils and Homosexuality, a fascinating neuroscience issue

The Spanish political blogosphere is a bit revolted today especially on the leftist side because some woman named Cristina Lopez Schlichting pointed out on her radio space that "homosexuality can be cured". Nothing more, nothing less, this Spanish Ann Coulter wannabe has simply voiced in Spanish what many others have been doing in the USA for years.  Nacho Escolar links Dos Manzanas about the issue in a simple single sentence which says more or less: "Cristina Lopez Schlichting's got the answer (to the question: How to cure homosexuality). Neuroscience is back".

The most interesting part of Escolar post is not on Cristina, but on the Neuroscience side, which links to the transcription of a short interview aired by COPE radio station in 2005 during a demonstration by Family Forum (yes, even in the names Spaniard neocons copy Americans), originally published in Microsiervos. Among some other pearls, the woman interviewed stated her capabilities to give an opinion on homosexuality by saying that back when she was studying psychology, on the subject of Neuroscience there were texts making clear that "when animals have a gland injured, called tonsil, they develop homosexual tendencies, which are of course unnatural because when the seminal fluid enters the anus it can't procreate because all it finds is poopoo" — a more or less bad translation of her point against homosexuality (apart of her 8 children of course, and her blatant bigoted ultracatholicism that she failed to mention). For those of you understanding Spanish, don't miss the original links.

Technorati tags: Spanish neocons, Liberalism in Spain means ultracatholicism, Neuroscience Tonsils and Homosexuality, Abominations and Deadly Sins

Ex Gay movements turning violent

Ex-gay Watch, a blog devoted to keep an eye on ex gay movements, writes about the relationship between JONAH, (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality) and NARTH. Among the many points of similarly neo totalitarist rhetoric of NARTH, these bloggers count the following:

• NARTH sports a guide to “taking back” schools from pro-tolerance activists, written by Scott Lively. Lively is a former American Family Association state chapter leader (he’s still listed as an active director) and the author of the book The Pink Swastika, which (according to the SPLC) falsely asserts that more gays were involved in the perpetration of genocide than were murdered under the Nazi regime. Lively has used The Pink Swastika to achieve popularity in Eastern Europe and among Russian-speaking U.S. immigrants. Lively is now a leader of a Slavic organization called Watchmen on the Walls (Google translation link), which has applauded the murder of a Sacramento gay man by Slavic skinheads, used West Coast Russian-language radio shows to promote anti-gay ethnic cleansing, and taught audiences that homosexuals have a contagious disease that must be quarantined and treated. If you think this sounds eerily familiar, you’re right.
• Paul Cameron, previously reported to be a supporter of a “Final Solution” for homosexuals and an admirer of Nazi officer Rudolph Höss, is still quite pervasive in NARTH’s library. Articles that cite his work can be found here, here, here, and here.

Another author enlisted in NARTH ranks is Joseph Nicolosi, who, with Gerard J. M. van der Aardweg, the latter being a psychologist deeply involved with the Opus Dei, make the core project of the Catholic Ex-Gay movement, which tried to root in Spain as well as in Latin America apparently without much success, as one can deduct from the site Es Posible El Cambio, promoted by a so called Grupo Juan Pablo II.  It's likely that Courage Latino be more active around Latin America, though.

Finally, and about the involvement of Mr. Scott Lively with Watchment on the Walls, we recommend you an interesting reading, this article from Alternet published on October 5th.

Anti-gay movements are out there and homosexuals are their target. Even physically. Beware.

Technorati tags: Religion and Homosexuality, Ex gay, Violence against homosexuals, Catholic, NARTH, JONAH, Ex gay watch, Courage Latino, Es Posible El Cambio, Watchmen on the Walls

Portrait of a marriage, 1901

Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sanchez first met when studying at Teacher's College in La Coruña. Years later, they met again when teaching in a unmentioned village. By 1901, Elisa became a cross dresser and invented a life story for herself and took on a new identity as Mario. Both Marcela and Mario got married at the parochial church of St. George in La Coruña, blessed by father Cortiella, who had to baptize "Mario" unknowingly in the Catholic faith.

Their trick was eventually discovered, thus they were prosecuted by judicial system. This along with social homophobia, mockery and the inability for Elisa to find a job as her male identity Mario, led them to migrate to Argentina.

The portrait above is theirs, took by José Sellier Loup.

 

UPDATE: As it should have been, the LGBT Association of A Coruña, Milhomes, has provided several deeper details upon the story. A local newspaper, La Voz de Galicia, published in June 1988 a verisimilarly accurate account of both women's love affair (not available online on the paper's site, though transcribed by Milhomes in their Flickr account), marriage and eventual fleeing to Buenos Aires, after their trick was published on newspapers all over Spain and even Europe.

Collective Milhomes, the LGBT Association of A Coruña, launched a campaign in order to have a street in that town named after both women, providing with full details, and established an award: the "Homoxexual Award Parish of St. George". Apparently, upon changes in the management staff of Milhomes, such actions towards keeping both women's memory alive have been discontinued, as well as the award.

 

Technorati tags: Spain, Jose Sellier Loup, Lesbian marriage 1901

Spain not so homophobia-free

Do you still remember that Spanish judge Mr. Calamita? Well, he's again on the news, this time in regards to the second lesbian-discrimination case we talked about. Now he's been charged with an administrative fault for delaying an adoption process by a lesbian couple, started in May 2006. When asked about the delay reasons, he allegedly answered that "there's no need to be an expert to know for sure that a child needs a male father and a female mother, and withouth both parental figures the child will grow unbalanced".

On another piece of news, the Spanish Navy impersoned by a logistics captain has denied the official 2 weeks leave for marriage reasons to a PFC who, last July, married to a transexual. While I don't think that such captain spoke for the official Spanish Navy stand on these matters, he's proof of the homophobic and ultracatholic, francoist views that a number of people in Spain still hold. Remarks such as "that's not a real marriage" and "if Franco was still alive, you red faggots would be killed" say it all.

Meanwhile, in the USA, the American Navy builds bases like this one in southern California, with a striking resemblance to the Hitlerian swastika (via FP Passport).

Uh, is it my lol conspiracy sense or there is any sort of ultra-right and pro-fascist thing in Navies nowadays?

Ok, let's all wipe off these unconfortable feelings we're right now having, and finish this post with the all-time disco hymn from our favorite people in the village.

 

 

Technorati tags: Spain, Homophobia, Navy, Ferrin Calamita

Marriage Defined

Via Dos Manzanas, good linguistic news for us. Maria Moliner's Dictionary of Spanish Usage, in its last edition, defines marriage this way:

Marriage: Union of a human couple, legalized with civil OR religious ceremonies and formalities established to constitute a family.

[Emphasis in the "or" is mine]

Technorati tags: Gay marriage, Spanish language

"Sinner" Cuts Off His Own Penis

31 August 2007

SALAMANCA – A man cut off his own penis and threw it in a toilet ‘so he would stop sinning’.

And we thought we were accustomed to weird stories. Anyway, the news don't describe what type of sin he was engaged into.

American gay men don't want to marry?

Via Pink News, an analysis on a study which reports that "the proportion of American gay men calling for the right to marry their partners in a church is as low as 36 per cent".

Well, does it mean that gay Americans don't want to marry? I'd put an emphasis in the "marry their partners in a church" part of the headlines. With no further knowledge of what the average gay American male thinks and lives, it seems to me quite probable that they get so disappointed with the many and various Christian churches in their country supporting the sanctity of marriage as a Church institution, that they are giving up any hope of stepping into any kind of Temple to get married. It's not clear from the analysis made at the Pink News site whether they equate church marriage with civil marriage or the latter would be called "same-sex unions".

In 2005 Spain, the government introduced an Act allowing same-sex marriage, civil, different to that spiritual bond sacralized by religious entities, yet legally providing same rights to any kind of couple. We knew that the majoritary Catholic Church wouldn't recognize such civil marriages, but they in fact don't recognize civil marriage as religiously bonding, and nonetheless the whole Catholic Hierarchy from the Vatican to the last bishop in Spain campaigned against such a law, with demonstrations and all (some people accurately pointed out that those same bishops never happen to walk within any demonstration against Iraq war, in spite of the Pope speaking against it).

So what's the problem with churches and religious organizations and civil marriage? I beieve that, being civil marriage a thing of the justice of the peace, priests, pastors, imams and the like can't take control of it. Can we happily give religion the right to dictate our laws? We might want, but if we carefully think about it, we can end up within systems so restrictive of rights as northern Nigeria's shari'a. Some might argue that Christian churches don't ask for lapidation of homosexuals; but it might be just a matter of time.

Technorati tags: USA gay men, gay marriage, Nigeria, Christian churches, Islam, Spain, Catholic