Portugal Likely to Permit Gay Marriage

AP — Parliament is expected to approve legal changes Friday that would make Portugal the sixth European country to allow gay marriage.

The center-left Socialist government is scheduled to present a bill removing a stipulation that marriage is between two people of different sexes. That constraint has thwarted efforts by same-sex couples to wed.

The government’s bill has the support of all left-of-center parties, who together have a majority in Parliament. Right-of-center parties oppose the measure.

If approved, the proposed law goes to Portugal’s conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva, who can ratify or veto it. A veto can be overturned by Parliament.

If there is no presidential veto, the first gay marriage ceremonies could take place in April _ a month before Pope Benedict XVI is due on an official visit.

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

Paulo Corte-Real, head of a lobby group called Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Intervention, said if the bill goes through as expected it will be a “historic day” for Portugal.

“It’s a milestone in the fight against discrimination,” he told The AP on Thursday.

Like neighboring Spain, Portugal is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country and previous efforts to introduce gay marriage have run into strong resistance from religious groups and conservative lawmakers.

Last July, the Constitutional Court upheld the country’s ban on gay marriage, rejecting an appeal by two lesbians seeking to wed. It said the constitution, while granting equal rights, did not state that same-sex marriages must be permitted.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates has previously said that allowing gay marriage is part of his plan to modernize Portugal. In 2007, his government legalized abortion.