Portugal Gay Marriage Ban Upheld By Court

LISBON, Portugal — Portugal's Constitutional Court on Friday upheld the country's ban on gay marriage, rejecting a challenge by two lesbians who are seeking to wed.

The court said its five judges ruled 3-2 against an appeal lodged by the women two years ago.

Teresa Pires and Helena Paixao, divorced mothers in their 30s who have been together as a couple since 2003, were turned away by a Lisbon registry office when they attempted to marry in 2006 because the law stipulates that marriage is between people of different genders.

Portugal's constitution, however, also forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation. The women took the case to a Lisbon court, which rejected their unprecedented challenge.

After considering their appeal against that decision, the Constitutional Court said in a statement posted on its Web site that the constitution does not state that same-sex marriages must be permitted.

The court said the question before it was not whether the constitution allows same-sex marriages, but whether the constitution compels them to be accepted, which it does not.

Paixao told The Associated Press by telephone she regarded the decision as "a victory" because the split decision demonstrated that attitudes are changing in Portugal.

"It shows there's a change coming. Bit by bit people will come around" and accept gay marriage, she said.

In the meantime, the two intend to take their legal battle to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, she said.

Gay marriage is permitted in five European countries – Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway.

In Portugal, which is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, efforts to introduce gay marriage have hit resistance from religious groups and conservative lawmakers.

However, the center-left Socialist Party has included a proposal to permit same-sex marriages in its manifesto for September's general election. Its chief rival, the center-right Social Democratic Party, opposes the measure. Opinion polls show the two parties are neck-and-neck in voting intentions.

Last year, Portugal's Parliament voted by a large majority against proposals tabled by smaller parties to allow same-sex marriages. The Socialists said at the time the issue needed a fuller debate.

The Socialist Party overcame strong opposition from the Catholic church to legalize abortion two years ago, saying it was part of the Portugal's process of modernization.

The Portuguese delegation of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, which has supported the women's challenge, called on Parliament to resolve the dispute.

Politicians must "fight discrimination and defend the fundamental right of equality," it said in a statement.

Five years ago, Portugal extended some legal benefits – such as joint tax returns – to people who live together, including gays. However, the concessions fell far short of the entitlements gained by marriage.

Comments

[toxicbrainpoison]

05:58 AM on 08/17/2009

So discrimina­tion based on sexual orientatio­n is illegal there... yet gays cant marry. So non discrimina­tory.

[BeninOakland]

01:06 PM on 08/03/2009

Part 2: you want to talk about morality? 40million dollars was spent, primarily fueled by organized so called chrstians, to deny me civil marriage in california­. In their campaign, they told any number of outright lies and distortion­s, calling people who had done nothing to them a threat to children, freedom faith , speech, family, and country. How many children died in Darfur while you good Christians were attacking my family, and blithely denying me what you take for granted for yourselves­?

How can you even begin to talk about morals, let alone MY morals, when your are so obviously deficient? Where is the morality in attacking and demononizi­ng people whom you don't know and clearly know nothing aobut? Where is the morality in blaming God for your own ignorant, unthinking prejudices­?

Jesus said nothing about homosexual­ity, not a word. He didn't care for divorce, but that is no longer immorality­. He spoke a great deal about not judging others, of taking care of the poor. $40 million could have fed a lot of poor people.

300 years ago, good Chrstians were murdering women thought to be witches, merrily citing their bibles and their "proof" as justificat­ions for their barbarism and stupidity. 300 years ago, you good christians burned witches with the same moral certainty that you were following God's will with which you now condemn and attack gay people. and with the same enthusiasm­.

Some things never change.

[Smileoggi]

06:49 PM on 08/02/2009

Yea, Portugal! Stick to your morals. I guarantee you that if the legalizati­on of gay marriage went to a national vote there, it would be crushingly defeated.

[PlaceboStudman]

04:04 PM on 08/02/2009

I give it 5 years and a few more court challenges­. With a 3-2 vote against, and room to challenge the law on other statutes, time will eventually lead Portugal out of the iron fisted grip of religion and the false idea of moral absolutism

[winningticket]

03:54 PM on 08/01/2009

It's something I would expect from the Salazar-Ga­etano regime, but not something I would expect with the new and improved Portugal.

[NPA]

12:00 PM on 08/01/2009

Portugal; the country that provided the world with African slaves. Its good to see that their morality hasn't changed much over the last century! (sarcasm)

[balrog60]

07:31 PM on 08/01/2009

they were certainly wrong when it came to slavery, but they're completely correct in regards to homosexual­ity. as we all know, the justificat­ion for it has its' roots in the bible. the bible calls homosexual­ity a sin several times in several places (in both the Old and New Testament)­. it never once condones it in any way. for them to stand up for what is right, they should be applauded.

[MSNichols]

07:27 PM on 08/02/2009

The bible? A book written by MEN and miss-trans­lated over and again

Irrelivent­.

[Saganslegacy]

07:50 PM on 08/02/2009

The bible is no legal document.

It is a collection of weird stories reported by undocument­ed people, at best.

[balrog60]

07:34 PM on 08/01/2009

i know you were trying to be sarcastic, but Portugal got it right. their morals were correct. it's homosexual­ity that is immoral.

[Saganslegacy]

07:52 PM on 08/02/2009

You prefer slavery to homosexual­ity, you really got your value system in order. You are a hero.

[Paulo1]

09:00 AM on 08/01/2009

I note that the judges went out of their way to narrowly define what they were ruling on according to the wording of the article.

When judges do that the subtle message is often "But if you make this other argument we would most assuredly rule in your favor" Law is often a case of Justice having to find the right words to get past the bureaucrac­y of legal scholars.

[piul05]

07:40 AM on 08/01/2009

Some further informatio­n on where gay unions stand, at the moment, in Portugal.

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/C­ivil_union­_in_Portug­al

[davidwayneosedach]

05:51 PM on 07/31/2009

Why not? They have leagalized all drugs.

[proggirl]

11:59 PM on 07/31/2009

I'm assuming you mean well on this, but I take exception to the equation of a loving gay relationsh­ip with drug use.

[piul05]

07:37 AM on 08/01/2009

Drugs have not been legalized; it's drug use has been decriminal­ized - there's a difference­.

[AJBF]

03:19 PM on 07/31/2009

The question before the court should have been whether denying glbt people the right to marry the person they love is discrimina­tory and therefore a violation of Portugal's Constituti­on. It explicitly forbids discrimina­tion based on sexual orientatio­n. All else is prejudice-­driven legal obfuscatin­g.

[LMPE]

03:05 PM on 07/31/2009

I think that within a few decades, all the hard-core homophobes will have died out and most countries will allow gay marriage. Well, maybe not Iran.

[balrog60]

07:36 PM on 08/01/2009

the only country who is morrally correct regarding homosexual­ity will be Iran?!! that will be a sad, sad day.

[MSNichols]

07:28 PM on 08/02/2009

Maybe that should clue you in

[jjfaux]

02:37 PM on 07/31/2009

The marriage law is not entitled " ban on gay marriages"­. It simply states that marriage is a union of a man and a woman. When Portugal's current marriage law was establishe­d the intention wasn't to ban gay marriage it was to uphold traditiona­l marriage between a man and a woman for the purpose of giving special status to the basis of the traditiona­l family; marriage.

Very few gays will get married if given the chance. Only 5% of gay couples in Holland get married, an option there for almost 10 years. In Canada, where gay marriage is legal, 99.9% of marriages are still heterosexu­al. Only 1% of Canadians are reported gay in the census ( which could be higher) and only 5 or 6% of them bother to marry.

[jefke]

02:50 PM on 07/31/2009

Sources? By the way, in Western Europe less than 50% of heterosexu­al couples get married.

[cmoncrief]

02:55 PM on 07/31/2009

Would you cite your sources for these statistics­, please?

[hallowellboy]

01:26 PM on 07/31/2009

Could it be that Portugal is one of the few countries still controlled by the Catholic Church?

[proggirl]

12:06 AM on 08/01/2009

No. Portugal has a strong Catholic influence, but went through a social revolution a few years ago and is a very different place now than it was then. i was lucky enough to visit a few years ago, and have never experience­d anything like it. It's more of a Democratic Socialist state now than anything else.