Portugal, Gay Marriage, and a Visit By Pope Benedict XVI

by Michael Jones · 2010-01-06 10:27:00 UTC
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Pope BenedictPope Benedict XVI has a May 2010 trip scheduled for Libson, Portugal, his first stop to the country since assuming the Papacy five years ago. What kinds of treats should Portugal include in Pope Benny's welcome basket?

Maybe some same-sex marriage. It goes nice with that little chocolate mint that sits on pillows.

Portugal is set to recognize marriage equality, perhaps as early as this Friday, becoming one of the most Catholic countries in the world to extend full marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. That has Pope Benedict XVI about as happy as a case of the flu. Before closing out 2009, Vatican honchos were busy telling LGBT folks that they wouldn't be allowed to enter heaven, and that gay marriage would threaten the future of humanity.

Good thing Portugal, and it's left-leaning President Prime Minister, Jose Socrates, aren't listening.

Prime Minister Socrates made legalizing gay marriage a big component of his re-election campaign last year. When he won, in September, gay marriage activists saw the marriage equality writing on the wall. By the end of this week, the writing may be all over the country's laws.

Meanwhile, even the Catholic Church is Portugal is sounding a bit conciliatory. Lisbon's Catholic Cardinal Patriarch Jose Policarpo weighed in and said that same-sex marriage was "parliament's responsibility," and not something that Portugal's Catholic Church should focus on. Ah, would that this philosophy spill over to the U.S. Catholic Church. Instead of leaving marriage up to state legislators, the U.S. Catholic Church gets involved regularly (hello Maine, hello California, hello New Jersey) in the same-sex marriage debate.

Portugal's first openly gay legislator, Miguel Vale de Almeida, said that the country is taking a fresh approach to the question of same-sex marriage that makes the debate in Portugal different than most anywhere else on the globe.

"I think the Portuguese people have learnt one of the fundamental tenets of democracy: respect for the rights of the individual," said Vale de Almeida.

How very ... rational of the country. Stay tuned for big news on Friday.

Photo: Pacopus

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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