Politics
Wednesday January 30, 2008
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Spain's "Conservative" Party Offers Weak Resistance to Socialist Anti-Family Policies
As elections approach, People's Party candidate makes token gesture
By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
SPAIN, January 30, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The leader of Spain's more conservative opposition party, the People's Party, is hinting that he might be willing to alter the nation's "homosexual marriage" law - slightly.
Mariano Rajoy, the party's presidential candidate, stated in a recent interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo that he would not eliminate the law's "homosexual marriage" provisions, but might change the name, presumably removing the identification of such privileges with "marriage".
With the presidential and parliamentary elections in March fast approaching, and the increasing influence of Spain's pro-family movement, the People's Party has a strong incentive to capitalize on discontent over the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party's legalization of "matrimony" between people of the same sex.
A recent pro-family rally lead by the nation's Catholic bishops drew over one million participants, and in Barcelona another gathering exceeded the capacity of the convention center where it was held. Participants roundly denounced the socialists' marriage and family policies.
But Rajoy's remarks are unlikely to satisfy Spanish pro-family groups, which are hoping to see a more forceful offensive against the revolutionary policies instituted by the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party. One such group, HazteOir, has collected 15,000 signatures on a petition, requesting that the People's Party take a clear stand against "homosexual marriage".
"When Rajoy affirms that, 'If I were to make some modification, it would only affect the name and not the rights and obligations that the law establishes,' he is making an express affirmation of his lack of commitment to marriage," said the organization on its website.
HazteOir's president Ignacio Arsuaga pointed out that in the same interview Rajoy also failed to clarify his position on homosexual adoptions. "How can he claim that he is committed to maintaining the rights acquired by homosexuals without clarifying that he understands that adoption is not a right?" he asked. "It should not be forgotten that the right of adoption is a right of the minor who is adopted, not of the adopting parents, to have what nature has deprived him of: a father and mother, who ensure his complete and best development."
Two parliamentarians from the People's Party appeared at Barcelona's recent rally for Life, Family, and Liberty, and mentioned the idea of removing the word "marriage" from the legislation. They admitted that they would do nothing to change the nation's liberal abortion laws, but promised to rigorously enforce the provisions prohibiting late-term abortions without a diagnosis of a physical or "psychological" risk to the mother.
Such restrictions were the basis of recent prosecutions against abortionists in Barcelona and Madrid, who were accused of falsifying such diagnoses, as well as other violations of the law.
Related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Crowd Packs Barcelona Convention Center to Defend the Family
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jan/08012901.html
Well Over One Million Spaniards Demonstrate for Marriage and Family
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jan/08010303.html
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