Tag Archives: Country: Portugal

AP: Portugal’s Parliament has passed a law allowing same-sex married couples to adopt their partners’ children, but lawmakers rejected legislation granting gay couples the same adoption rights as heterosexuals.

Washington Post reports.

LifeSiteNews: A newly-minted Portuguese cardinal has sparked controversy at home and abroad by repeating the Catholic Church’s longstanding teaching encouraging women to be at home with their children.

CNBC: Standard & Poor’s will cut the credit ratings of Italy, Spain and Portugal by two notches and downgrade France and Austria by one notch, a French newspaper said Friday, without citing its sources.

Second Union News: (translated from Portuguese by Google) To counter what some pro-abortion groups that practice anti-life must be approved in Brazil because of international agreements that the woman’s right to propose Dr. Piero Tozzi of the Alliance Defense Fund in the U.S., offered a lecture at the Second Congress Life for Justice and Human Life International in Sao Paulo this weekend, which ensured that there is no international law requiring the approval of abortion and that this is not a “right” reproductive.

NYTimes.com: I was left with the strong impression that for many highly educated and young people in Portugal — which belongs to both the European Union and the euro zone but doesn’t have nearly as much economic or political clout as its peers, and has plunged into fiscal crisis — same-sex marriage became a badge of sophistication, affirming their country as an enlightened place.

LifeSiteNews.com: Although the Portuguese parliament is currently deliberating over several bills that could legalize physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, the debate may be largely a moot point.

Reuters: The credit ratings agencies are again angering governments, but this time they are taking on the big fish of the world economy.

LifeNews: The dangerous RU 486 (mifepristone) abortion drug has caused yet another death in Europe by subjecting a 16-year-old girl in Portugal to a deadly infection that claimed her life.

LifeSiteNews: “The Portuguese Federation for Life (FPV) is calling for a revision of the nation’s abortion legislation after a nurse was given a suspended sentence of three years years in prison for running an illegal and clandestine abortion clinic in the city of Matosinhos.”

LifeSiteNews: “Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, the Catholic politician who approved a law that led to the liberalization of abortion and another that instituted gay ‘marriage’ in Portugal, has been reelected as the country’s president in general elections on Sunday, January 23.”

Associated Press: “Anger and fear about Europe’s seemingly unstoppable debt crisis coursed through the continent Wednesday. Striking workers shut down much of Portugal, Ireland proposed its deepest budget cuts in history and seething Italian and British students clashed with police over education cuts.”

Daily Mail: “Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned. In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money . . . ”

The Portugal News: “A lesbian couple who have become Portugal’s first same-sex couple to wed in an official ceremony, since the passing of the law allowing gay marriage last month, have now vowed that the next step in their fight for equality will be to tackle parenting rights, including the issue of adoption by same-sex couples.” | Related: “Portugal lesbian couple in nation’s first gay marriage” | President of Portugal Signs Law to Redefine Marriage | Portugal’s Constitutional Court OKs same-sex “marriage”

BBC: “Teresa Pires and Helena Paixao, both divorced mothers in their 30s who have been together since 2003, married at a Lisbon registry office.”

On Top Mag (“gay advocacy website”): “Portugal’s gay marriage law takes effect next week, Portugal Diario reported. Beginning June 7, marriage in Portugal will be defined as a ‘contract between two people wishing to form families through the full communion of life.’”

LifeSite: “Portugal’s president, who was elected as a conservative, has signed a law passed by the Assembly of the Republic last year creating the institution of homosexual ‘marriage.’”

CNSNews: “Portugal’s conservative president says he has decided to ratify a law allowing gay marriage in the predominantly Catholic country . . . ”

Google News (AP): “Benedict made the comments Thursday to Catholic educators, social workers and others after celebrating Mass before an estimated 400,000 people in Fatima, one of the most important shrines in Christianity. He was interrupted by applause several times.”

On Top Mag (“gay advocacy website”): “Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva has 20 days to decide on a gay marriage bill. Wednesday’s official publication of the country’s Constitutional Court’s favorable ruling on gay marriage started the countdown.”

Jakarta Globe: “Today seven countries, five US states and several Latin American cities have legalized same-sex marriage. The Netherlands ushered the way in 2001, the first nation to permit same-sex couples to marry legally. This historic decision marked a turning point, with demands for equality reverberating across borders. Barriers fell as Belgium (2003), Canada and Spain (2005), South Africa (2006), Norway and Sweden (2009) each approved legislation.”

On Top Mag (“gay advocacy website”): “Gay marriage in Portugal is in the hands of President Anibal Cavaco Silva after the country’s Constitutional Court OK’d the bill last week. Portugal’s Socialist-controlled Parliament, led by Prime Minister Jose Socrates, approved the bill that grants gay and lesbian couples all the rights and obligations of marriage except adoption on February 11.”

On Top Mag (“gay advocacy website”): “Portugal’s Constitutional Court has OK’d a gay marriage bill approved by lawmakers, Portugal’s IOL Diario reported. . . . In an opinion released Thursday and written by Justice Victor Gomes, the court’s majority agreed the bill is constitutional. Two judges disagreed.”

PrideSource (LGBT site): “The court must act on the review by April 8. The bill then will return to the president, who will have 20 more days to mull it over. If he signs it, it becomes law. If he vetoes it, Parliament is expected to pass it again, which would then force Cavaco Silva to sign it.”

OnTopMag (”gay advocacy website”): “Portugal President Anibal Cavaco Silva has forwarded a gay marriage bill approved by Parliamentarians to the nation’s Constitutional Court, Lisbon’s Diario de Noticias reported. Cavaco Silva asked the court to review the constitutionality of 4 out of 5 of the bill’s articles. Article 3, which was not forwarded, would forbid married gay and lesbian couples from adopting children.”

OnTopMag(“gay advocacy website”): “The government’s Committee for Constitutional Affairs unanimously agreed on the bill’s final language. The measure now heads to the desk of President Anibal Cavaco Silva. Cavaco Silva is a Roman Catholic and a member of the PSD party, groups which oppose the legalization of gay marriage, and he has publicly stated his opposition to gay marriage.”

The Vancouver Sun: “Portuguese lawmakers Thursday definitively adopted legislation legalising homosexual marriage, although President Anibal Cavaco Silva, a practising Roman Catholic, must give final approval. … Cavaco Silva could still veto the measure, a move that would mean a new vote in parliament but would merely delay it becoming law.”

LifeSiteNews: “Although Policarpo made clear in October his opposition to the creation of same-sex ‘marriage,’ he also made it clear that he favors legal rights for homosexual couples, an idea denounced by the pope, who has said that Catholics have a ‘duty’ to oppose such ‘gravely unjust’ rights.”

AP: “Portugal’s parliament passed a bill Friday that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.”

“With the governing Socialists and other left-wing parties enjoying a strong majority, the new law is likely to sail through . . .”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Portugal’s Socialist government has drawn up a proposal that would make Portugal the sixth European country to allow gay marriage. The law is almost certain to pass, as the center-left Socialist government has the support of all left-of-center parties, who together have a majority in Parliament. Right-of-center parties oppose the measure.”

“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.”

Russia Today reports: “With gay marriage forbidden in Portugal the ruling Socialist party plans to propose new laws allowing same-sex marriage if they return to power after September elections. Lisbon’s gay community welcomes this but legislation may prove tough in a deeply Catholic country.”

LifeSiteNews: “Following a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) in Fatima, the leadership of the Church has announced that ‘the organizations of the Church will move’ to combat the proposal by the Socialist Party to …

LifeSiteNews: “The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Portuguese government broke the law in preventing the Dutch abortion boat from landing when it attempted to enter Portuguese territory in 2004, when abortion was against the law . …

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Portuguese government broke the law in preventing the Dutch abortion boat from landing when it attempted to enter Portuguese territory in 2004, when abortion was against the law. Abortionist and foundress of the “Women on Waves” project, Rebecca Gomperts, said she is delighted with the finding. “We shall use the judgment for new campaigns outside Europe,” she said.

LifeSiteNews: The leader of Portugal’s ruling Socialist Party, Jose Socrates, has announced his support for homosexual “marriage,” sparking controversy and protest throughout the country and within the Socialist Party (PS) itself . . . The Secretary of the Catholic Episcopal …

Prime Minister Sócrates gained loud applause on Sunday on telling some 300 party members that he would propose the Socialists back gay civil marriage at the party congress next month.

LifeSiteNews.com reports: “The parliamentary leader of Portugal’s ruling Socialist Party, Alberto Martins, has suggested that homosexual “marriage” should be on the agenda for the coming legislative session.”

LifeSiteNews.com reports: “After months of conflict, the leadership of the Portuguese Order of Physicians has capitulated to government pressure to allow abortions in their ethical code. At a meeting held earlier this week, the organization’s National Executive Council proposed new …

Against this background, it will be possible to reflect on the current legal situation of same-sex relationships in Portugal and determine which further steps the Portuguese legislature should take along the path of according a legal status to same sex relationships.