Friday, November 29, 2002
Belgian lawmakers approves same-sex marriages
A story released today by the Agence France Presse reports that the
Belgian senate on Thursday approved a bill allowing same-sex marriages,
paving the way for the country to be only the second in Europe to do so.
The bill, which still has to be voted by the lower house, gives same-sex
couples the same right as heterosexual ones, notably inheritance rights.
The new law, proposed by Belgium's rainbow coalition, will not however allow
same-sex couples to adopt children, and will consider the mother in a
lesbian couple to be a single parent.
"Mentalities have changed. There is no longer any reason not to open
marriage to people of the same sex," Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
said last year, when he first launched the proposal.
"This law will end what some of the homosexual community consider a serious
discrimination and should help fight homophobia." said ecologist lawmaker
Josy Dubie.
Verhofstadt originally proposed limiting the law's application to Belgians
and nationals of other countries with similar laws. But its final version is
open to everyone.
