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Gay marriages brought to the table The controversial issues of gay marriages will be debated in Parliament next month following two proposals from the Left Bloc (BE) and ‘Green’ Party, though the remaining political parties are at loggerheads as to whether or not they will allow their deputies a say in the matter. On October 10th a conference for parliamentary leaders has been scheduled regarding the topic of legal gay unions, civil ceremonies between two people of the same sex. BE proposed in 2006 that homosexuals should be able to legally wed, though only now is the proposal to be discussed. The Left Bloc’s proposition suggests an alteration to the law that defines marriage as a ‘contract between two people of opposite sexes’. BE considers that description to be ‘unconstitutional’, and that marriage should be defined as ‘a solemnly formalized meeting of wills between two people who intend to build a family in full communion of life’. This is also a view shared by the ‘Greens’, though these disallow for an alteration for the standing law to accommodate same-sex adoption. Adoption laws state that “to adopt, both parties must be married for more than four continuous years and have not legally separated, as long as both are over the age of 25”. To prevent same-sex married couple from adopting, the ‘Greens’ suggest the law be changed to “both parties must be married for more than four continuous years and have not legally separated, as long as the man and the woman are over the age of 25”. Meanwhile, socialist and democratic parties PS and PSD have not officially confirmed their stance on the matter, according to the leaders of both parties. Paulo Rangel, head of the PSD party affirmed they would take a stance “in their own time”. PS leader Alberto Martins initially said “nothing as yet has been decided”, though it later transpired the party was preparing to annul the proposal by restricting its bench members from voting.
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