So Mr. Bush, was Belgium part of Old or New Europe?

[ad rian]

Belgium legalises gay marriages

 

BRUSSELS, Belgium --Belgium has become the second country after the Netherlands to legalise same-sex marriages.

 

The country's lower chamber of parliament late on Thursday voted 91 to 22 in favour of a bill giving gay couples the same legal status as heterosexuals. There were nine abstentions.

 

However, some politicians criticised the new law for not going far enough because it prevents homosexuals from adopting children.

 

"Despite the symbolic value of this law and the positive signal it sends to the homosexual community, there remains this regret," a Socialist deputy told a local newspaper. "We have kept a flagrant hypocrisy: a single person can adopt but not a gay couple."

 

Belgium, whose population of 10 million is 75 percent Roman Catholic, has increasingly broken from its conservative traditions.

 

The government has legalised so-called mercy killings and decriminalised the possession of cannabis for personal use.

 

Although the Netherlands has recognised registered gay partnerships since 1998, it only passed laws allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children in December 2000.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/31/belgium.gay.reut/index.html