Spain’s Parliament Legalizes Gay Marriage

Spain on Thursday became the third country to legalize gay marriage, in a parliamentary vote that left gay activists blowing kisses to lawmakers and the powerful Roman Catholic Church issuing veiled calls for defiance.

The new law increases the chances of happiness for “our neighbors, our work colleagues, our friends, our relatives,” said Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The 350-seat Congress of Deputies, by a vote of 187 to 147 with four abstentions, approved the measure to give homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual ones, including the right to adopt children.

After the tally was announced, activists watching from the spectator section of the ornate chamber cried, cheered, hugged, waved to lawmakers and blew kisses. Several members of the conservative opposition Popular Party, which vehemently opposed the bill, shouted, “This is a disgrace!”

Outside, Beatriz Gimeno, a longtime leader of the gay rights movement in Spain, said, “It is a historic day for the world’s homosexuals.

“We have been fighting for many years. Now comes the hardest part, which is changing society’s mentality.”

“Marriage, understood as the union of a man and a woman, is no longer provided for in our laws,” the Spanish Bishops Conference said after the vote, referring both to the gay marriage law and a bill passed Wednesday making it easier for Spaniards to divorce.

“It is necessary to oppose these unfair laws through all legitimate means,” a conference statement said, alluding to its hint last month that town hall officials who oppose gay marriage should refuse to preside over such ceremonies.

The bill, which became law immediately, says, “Matrimony shall have the same requirements and effects regardless of whether the persons involved are of the same or different sex.”

Gay couples can get married as soon as the law is published in the official government registry -- as early as today or within two weeks at the latest, parliament’s press office said.

The Senate, where conservatives hold the largest number of seats, rejected the bill last week. But it is an advisory body and final say on legislation rests with the Congress of Deputies.

Canada’s House of Commons passed legislation Tuesday that would legalize gay marriage by the end of July as long as the Senate also passes the bill, which it is expected to do.

The Netherlands and Belgium already recognize gay marriage.