EUROPE/SPAIN - Society offers full support to pro-family demonstration in Madrid: “the government must realise that Spanish society rejects any changes in matrimony”

Madrid (Fides Service) - The Spanish government’s move to recognise same sex unions as “marriages” and allow same sex ‘parents’ to adopt children is meeting with strong opposition among the people of the country. Growing numbers of individuals and groups are voicing support for the June 18 pro-family demonstration in Madrid organised by the Spanish Family Forum.
Besides the support of the Catholic Bishops, the event has the solidarity of various other institutions including the Partido Popular and numerous politicians, associations of parents and students, centres of education. The National Catholic Confederation of Families and Pupils Parents (CONCAPA) has urged its members to take part in the demonstration because “the government must realise that society in Spain rejects any changes in matrimony or adoption because every child has a right to a father and a mother ”. Other organisations have expressed support including: Federación Española de Religiosos de la Enseñanza (FERE-CECA), Confederación Española de Centros de Enseñanza (CECE), Educación y Gestión (EyG), Confederación de Madres y Padres de Alumnos (COFAPA), Asociación Profesional de Profesores de Religión en Centros estatales (APPRECE); Confederación de Estudiantes (CES) and the Coalición Democrática de Estudiantes (CODE). In a joint statement these institutions call on the government to listen to all sectors of society and not ‘exclusively’ to minority groups and to take a firm position to protect and uphold the family. The statement says if the government ignores the nation’s families it will show that it “prefers to favour its own partial interests than those of a greater part of the population”. Numerous personalities of the world of culture and the media have publicly announced support for the demonstration on Saturday 18 June. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 15/6/2005, righe 25, parole 335)