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First Gay 'Marriage' Legalized, Now Spain Bans Terms 'Mother' and 'Father'

Special to LifeSiteNews.com by Robert Duncan

In an unwitting move, Spain's government last week provided strong proof that same-sex marriages really are anti-family.

By now, most readers know that the Spanish government passed legislation last year making same-sex marriages legal. What most people probably don't realize is that since the Socialist government passed that legislation there hasn't been a run on gay couples seeking to get hitched.

Of course to read the press, one wouldn't know that gay marriages in Spain aren't that popular. Perhaps that is because the media seems to focus on a few isolated high-profile cases - leaving the general impression for the casual reader that same-sex marriages are as numerous as pebbles on a seashore.

However, despite the reported popularity of same-sex marriages, according to some reports only around 400 couples have so far bothered to get married in Spain.

Despite opposition from the Church and pro-family groups, the government has continually turned a deaf ear to the needs of traditional families, in favor of fringe politics. The argument, according to the Socialists, is that the family has changed with the times, and so has marriage. In the end, legislation was approved not only allowing homosexual couples to marry, but to also adopt children.

Ironically, the Socialist government claims that although it pushed through legislation to benefit a small minority of the population - and in the process changed the definition of marriage - that this could in no way be construed as an attack on the traditional family. Indeed, the government claims that it is in truth pro-family.

So now, jump fast forward to last Friday.

That's when the Spanish government announced a ministerial order that new births would have to be registered at the State Civil Registries in the Family Book under the headings of Parent (progenitor) A, and Parent (progenitor) B.

In other words, the terms "Father" and "Mother" were to be no longer used.

In Spain, marriages, births and deaths are all recorded at Civil Registries, with most of those actions being noted in a Family Book (Libro de Familia). While the example isn't perfect, think of the Family Book as an extended birth certificate.

Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Spanish Minister of Justice, excused the ministerial order by claiming since the government modified "the status of civil marriages, to allow the union of same-sex couples, it was necessary for a new format for the Family Book (Libro de Familia) and one that used terms such as "Parent A" and "Parent B" instead of "Father" and "Mother."

That's right. To match up it's same-sex marriage legislation to the Civil Registry, the government deemed that Spaniards could no longer qualify themselves as either "Fathers" or "Mothers" of their children.

Since last Friday, the government has backpedaled a bit. 

Now the Socialists claim that the traditional Family Book model will co-exist beside a new model that incorporates the Parent A, Parent B ministerial order. The government says that these two models are a mirror of modern society. It should be noted that possibility wasn't mentioned - and one suspects it's just been invented - when the ministerial order was published in the Official State Bulletin (BOE), and which only specified that the "expression 'father' will be substituted for "Parent A" and the expression 'mother' for "Parent B."

Besides the curious labelling of "Fathers" and "Mothers", the BOE text not once mentioned an additional Family Book - although it does suggest that there could be modifications to the initially approved order - and was quite tacit in its modifying of the current model.

Not only do we have a new, anti-natural law, anti-historical definition of marriage in Spain, but we are now in danger of having relegated "Fathers" and "Mothers" to being nothing more than expressions. And this is the policy from a "pro-family government"?

Let Spain be a warning to those countries and individuals contemplating same-sex marriage legislation. There is no slippery slope when playing with society's most important element: the family. The desire to enact such legislation doesn't just stop at redefining marriage, but the very essence of what is a family - a mother and a father.

But the story doesn't end here.

It appears that various Lesbian groups in Spain are opposed to the government's latest registry plans.

Why?

It seems they don't like the term progenitor (parent).

To understand, one has to understand that many words in Spanish - and other languages - have gender. That's right. Some words are masculine, and others are feminine.

The government's proposal, progenitor, is masculine. Meaning, according to the Lesbian groups, that the term wouldn't recognize their feminine side. They feel discriminated against. To which I say welcome aboard, so do I.

The Lesbian groups suggest using Progenitor (masculine) A, and Progenitora (feminine) B.

At this stage, why not just call both parties progenitoras (plural), or while we are at it, why not facilitators. After all, nowadays mothers and fathers in Spain are nothing more than outdated, endangered expressions.
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Besides working for many years as a journalist, including as a bullfighting photographer, Robert Duncan is an ombudsman for foreign press in Spain, an executive board member for Spain's oldest and largest foreign press body, the Club Internaciónal de Prensa, and honorary vice-president for the Organización de Periodismo y Comunicación Ibero-Americana. He is also the editor for Spero News, and blogs at Pelican Press. 

See related LifeSiteNews.com stories:

“Man and Woman”, “Wife”, “Husband”, “Widow”, “Widower” Banished From all Ontario Law
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05022511.html

P.E.I. Amending Marriage Laws to Replace “Husband”, “Wife”, “Bride”, Groom” With Gender-Neutral “Spouse”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111810.html

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