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New Spanish PM backs gay marriage: The Hindu
Madrid, Apr 18: The incoming prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, set Spain on a radical course of social change by promising to legalise gay marriage and amend the constitution to give women the equal right of succession to the throne.
Madrid, Apr 18: The incoming prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, set Spain on a radical course of social change by promising to legalise gay marriage and amend the constitution to give women the equal right of succession to the throne.
In his first parliamentary speech since winning the general election last month he promised to make equality between sexes an "emblematic task".
He is due to be elected prime minister by the lower house of parliament, the Cortes, on Friday.
His first government will consist of eight female and eight male ministers, equalling the record for parity set by the Swedish Social Democrats in 1996.
"It is time to bring to an end, once and for all, the intolerable discrimination still suffered by many Spaniards exclusively by virtue of their sexual preferences," he said.
"Homosexuals and transsexuals deserve the same public consideration as heterosexuals and have the right to live freely the life that they themselves have chosen.
"We will recognise, on an equal basis, their right to marriage, with the consequent effects on labour rights, inheritance and social security protection," he added.
The Socialists have already announced that the first law they pass will deal with domestic violence, which claims the life of at least one Spanish woman every week.
Zapatero, whose party fell short of an absolute majority when it won 164 of the 350 seats on March 14, is hoping to be elected prime minister in the first round of voting in parliament today.
He will need the support of at least one of the regionalist parties in Catalonia and the Basque country to whom, yesterday, he offered the opportunity of negotiating new powers for their semi-autonomousgovernments.
The proposed end of the male primacy in the family of King Juan Carlos does not affect the heir, Prince Felipe, but is to be applied to his children.
The future government has also promised to stop much of the work on a controversial scheme to redistribute water from the Ebro river to farmers and tourist developments in the south-east.
Zapatero said the constitution needed significant reform, for the first time since it was adopted in 1978.
The changes are expected to include transforming the senate into a house which partly represents the regions.
That is another big shift from Aznar's eight-year period in government, when constitutional reform and, especially, the idea of boosting the power of the regions, became taboo subjects.
In his first parliamentary speech since winning the general election last month he promised to make equality between sexes an "emblematic task".
He is due to be elected prime minister by the lower house of parliament, the Cortes, on Friday.
His first government will consist of eight female and eight male ministers, equalling the record for parity set by the Swedish Social Democrats in 1996.
"It is time to bring to an end, once and for all, the intolerable discrimination still suffered by many Spaniards exclusively by virtue of their sexual preferences," he said.
"Homosexuals and transsexuals deserve the same public consideration as heterosexuals and have the right to live freely the life that they themselves have chosen.
"We will recognise, on an equal basis, their right to marriage, with the consequent effects on labour rights, inheritance and social security protection," he added.
The Socialists have already announced that the first law they pass will deal with domestic violence, which claims the life of at least one Spanish woman every week.
Zapatero, whose party fell short of an absolute majority when it won 164 of the 350 seats on March 14, is hoping to be elected prime minister in the first round of voting in parliament today.
He will need the support of at least one of the regionalist parties in Catalonia and the Basque country to whom, yesterday, he offered the opportunity of negotiating new powers for their semi-autonomousgovernments.
The proposed end of the male primacy in the family of King Juan Carlos does not affect the heir, Prince Felipe, but is to be applied to his children.
The future government has also promised to stop much of the work on a controversial scheme to redistribute water from the Ebro river to farmers and tourist developments in the south-east.
Zapatero said the constitution needed significant reform, for the first time since it was adopted in 1978.
The changes are expected to include transforming the senate into a house which partly represents the regions.
That is another big shift from Aznar's eight-year period in government, when constitutional reform and, especially, the idea of boosting the power of the regions, became taboo subjects.