MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament gave final approval on Thursday to a law legalising gay marriage, overriding fierce opposition from the Catholic Church.
Spain becomes only the fourth country after Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands to permit same-sex marriage.
Applause broke out in the crowded public gallery as legislators voted to push through the law despite its rejection by the upper house, the Senate.
"With the approval of this law, our country takes a further step on the road of freedom and tolerance," said Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has embarked on progressive social reforms since his election last year.
The Catholic Church has strongly resisted the same-sex marriage law but a survey last year showed 70 percent of Spaniards supported legalising gay marriage.
Earlier this month, bishops and nuns marched through Madrid with hundreds of thousands of Spaniards to protest against gay marriage and last month Spanish Roman Catholic bishops commanded all Catholics to resist applying the same-sex marriage law.
The law gives same-sex unions the same status as heterosexual ones, including inheritance rights, pensions and the adoption of children.
During the 1939 to 1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco, homosexuality, divorce and abortion were illegal. But since Franco's death the country has adopted some of the most liberal views in Europe.
Zapatero's liberal reforms are popular among young Spaniards, fewer than one fifth of whom are practising Catholics.
I can't belive that for once, we are being a progressist country
Spain becomes only the fourth country after Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands to permit same-sex marriage.
Applause broke out in the crowded public gallery as legislators voted to push through the law despite its rejection by the upper house, the Senate.
"With the approval of this law, our country takes a further step on the road of freedom and tolerance," said Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has embarked on progressive social reforms since his election last year.
The Catholic Church has strongly resisted the same-sex marriage law but a survey last year showed 70 percent of Spaniards supported legalising gay marriage.
Earlier this month, bishops and nuns marched through Madrid with hundreds of thousands of Spaniards to protest against gay marriage and last month Spanish Roman Catholic bishops commanded all Catholics to resist applying the same-sex marriage law.
The law gives same-sex unions the same status as heterosexual ones, including inheritance rights, pensions and the adoption of children.
During the 1939 to 1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco, homosexuality, divorce and abortion were illegal. But since Franco's death the country has adopted some of the most liberal views in Europe.
Zapatero's liberal reforms are popular among young Spaniards, fewer than one fifth of whom are practising Catholics.
I can't belive that for once, we are being a progressist country
