Spanish Senate vetoes gay marriage law

Madrid, Spain, Jun 22, 2005 / 22:00 pm

After heated debate, the Spanish Senate vetoed a bill that would make homosexual unions equivalent to marriage.  Now voters are demanding the bill be completely killed in the Senate rather than being sent to the House of Representatives and that a referendum on the issue be held.

The move to veto passed by a vote of 131 to 119.  The measure could go back to the House of Representatives, where the Socialist government has enough support for it pass in a vote scheduled for June 30.

The civil rights watchdog website HazteOir.org launched a campaign to have the measure killed in the Senate before it gets sent to the House and that a referendum on the issue be held, so that “the Spanish people can address this issue that has divided our society and our representatives so much.”

“To approve this law without a consensus would be a new display of unwillingness on the part of the Government to listen to different sectors and of the imposition of its policies without any dialogue with society.  We demand that Zapatero withdraw this bill,” said Ignacio Arsuaga, president of HazteOir.og.

“If the Senate does not veto it, the bill will return to Congress and we will continue demanding, in the name of a million and a half protestors who filled the streets of Madrid last Saturday, that the president of the government withdraw this bill,” he added.