Mayor marries gay couple; Ignores Party, Church

When Gallardon married the two Spanish homosexuals the music that was played was the Gospel song “Oh, Happy Day.” One wonders if the two gay Spaniards realized that the song is actually a celebration of being forgiven from sin.

Political strategists should keep an eye on the help wanted pages out of Spain: Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, Madrid’s Partido Popular Mayor, could be putting out a call – especially after the brouhaha following his decision this past Saturday to marry two gay men.

Ironically, rivers of ink aren’t being poured over the legality of Gallardon’s act – that being solved, at least temporarily, by the Socialist government’s legislation last year – but by the fact that he is a very visible member of the Center-Right PP, and at least in some circles had been seen as a possible contender for the Prime Minister slot on his party’s ticket. Mind you this is a party that has strongly opposed homosexual marriages – although it did support a watered-down version that recognized legal rights of homosexual unions – and has presented a motion to Spain’s Supreme Court to have the same-sex legislation overturned.

Gallardon, a practicing Catholic, has been described by the press as being both a Progressive, and with ties to the extreme Right. Besides studying in Catholic schools, Gallardon – who has four children – is the son of a Right-wing politician, as well as being the son-in-law of a José Utrera Molina, a minister in Gen. Francisco Franco’s regime. He became mayor of Madrid in 2003 with the support of former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the same year the PP lost the national elections to the Socialists (PSOE).

This hasn’t been a good year for Gallardon, and his chances to a higher political seat – at least on the PP ticket – now look a lot slimmer. Gallardon has seen his popularity ratings slip in favor of Esperanza Aguirre, PP colleague and party leader for the Madrid province. Mind you, while Aguirre has her own problems, she also knows her voter base: Aguirre declined an invitation to attend the gay wedding, as did other PP party members, including current IMF Director, Rodrigo Rato, and Ana Pastor. Mariano Rajoy, the national PP party leader wasn’t invited to the wedding – nor was he consulted by Gallardon.

One gets the feeling that Gallardon is showing passive-aggressive traits, especially after his failed 2012 Olympic bid (so now he’s trying for 2016), his imposing higher taxes, implementing a controversial plan to massively install parking meters in residential areas – that met with demonstrations and blocked traffic in Madrid’s already congested central streets – and perhaps worse for the current PP leadership to stomach, his being too close a clone of the PP’s former PM Aznar.

Despite Gallardon’s claims he was only following the letter-of-the-albeit-Socialist’s law, it would appear that politicians from both sides of the aisle aren’t buying it.

PP spokesman Gabriel Elorriaga said “that without any doubt” Gallardon’s decision was “incoherent.”

“The union between stable couples of the same sex should have been regulated by law in a different manner than that of marriage. This was our electoral offer, and which was the same that figured in the initial electoral program of the PSOE,” Elorriaga said.

Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the PP Parliamentary spokesman said Gallardon was “disloyal” to the party and that his participation should have “political consequences,” hinting at a possible motion to have Gallardon thrown out of the PP.

For Fernandez Diaz, “Mr Ruiz-Gallardon, as a well-known figure of the Partido Popular, must be loyal to his party, with independence of whether he is or not Catholic, Muslim or Mormon. That is his problem, but he has the obligation to be loyal to his party and to support its decisions.”

Fernandez Diaz noted that a very important base of the PP is the Catholic Church, “as was readily seen in the recent visit of Pope Bendict XVI to Spain,” and stressed that Gallardon should “pay attention to the sensibilities, feelings and convictions of the majority of his voters” that his party represents.

Those sentiments were mirrored by the Foro Espanol de la Familia, the pro-family group that organized the massive demonstrations last year against the same-sex legislation, that demanded that Gallardon “respect his party and his voter base.”

“The intervention of Ruiz-Gallardon in this ceremony, breaking all habitual practices where the mayor never marries anybody, implies a policy of supporting a law that the PP has refused and considers unconstitutional,” said Benigno Blanco, spokesman for The Foro Espanol de la Familia in a press statement. “This isn’t about applying or not a law that is on the books, but this is about the unnecessary personal and public implications of a high-ranking official of the PP participating in an act that represents supporting a law that has generated so much protest.”The Church was so ticked off at Gallardon that he merited a public kicking in the pants last Friday when the Catholic Church issued a press release denouncing his decision, and reminding the Catholic politicians of their duties.

The Madrid Archbishop’s statement, which was released to “avoid confusion and scandal,” reiterated the message of Pope Benedict’s recent visit to Spain for the recent World Congress of Families, and the Church’s teaching that marriage can only be between male and female.

Those sentiments were mirrored by the Foro Espanol de la Familia, the pro-family group that organized the massive demonstrations last year against the same-sex legislation, that demanded that Gallardon “respect his party and his voter base.”

“The intervention of Ruiz-Gallardon in this ceremony, breaking all habitual practices where the mayor never marries anybody, implies a policy of supporting a law that the PP has refused and considers unconstitutional,” said Benigno Blanco, spokesman for The Foro Espanol de la Familia in a press statement. “This isn’t about applying or not a law that is on the books, but this is about the unnecessary personal and public implications of a high-ranking official of the PP participating in an act that represents supporting a law that has generated so much protest.”

The Church was so ticked off at Gallardon that he merited a public kicking in the pants last Friday when the Catholic Church issued a press release denouncing his decision, and reminding the Catholic politicians of their duties.

The Madrid Archbishop’s statement, which was released to “avoid confusion and scandal,” reiterated the message of Pope Benedict’s recent visit to Spain for the recent World Congress of Families, and the Church’s teaching that marriage can only be between male and female.

“This doctrine is obligatory for all faithful Catholics, including Catholic politicians, and they must especially bear in mind that all legal, theoretical and practical acknowledgments of so-called homosexual unions contribute to the eroding of fundamental values,” of believers and society at large, said the Archbishop’s statement.

When Gallardon married the two Spanish homosexuals the music that was played was the Gospel song “Oh, Happy Day.” One wonders if the two gay Spaniards realized that the song is actually a celebration of being forgiven from sin.

The Spanish newspaper ABC, without citing names, said that Gallardon felt the Archbishop’s note was “unjustified” and that the marrying of gays “is a practice that is more or less habitual, even in Madrid … and the Archbishop’s office had never said anything before.” Gallardon insisted that he officiated the wedding because he “was asked” by the two men who are his friends.

With arguments like that one can only surmise that Gallardon must have not only ignored the Pope’s message, but successfully blocked out while growing up that worldwide parents’ “that just because everybody is doing something, doesn’t make it right” anthem.

The reaction to Gallardon’s act in Madrid’s churches was equally forceful. In a bare basement chapel a priest in tattered clothes – without mentioning the mayor by name – took the occasion of a Saturday evening funeral to expound on politicians who have no backbone. “They are all too willing to go Valencia to be with the Pope, and here in the streets,” in support of the family. “But then nothing.”

Father Matias, of the Madrid parish Saint Teresa and Saint Isabel, at the Sunday Noon Mass, exhorted those present to pray for those politicians who would allow “this abomination of men marrying men.” He added his hopes that Spain not become “a new Sodom and Gomorrah.”

To make matters worse, Gallardon didn’t win any goodwill votes with militant homosexuals either.

Socialist (PSOE) Social Services spokesman Pedro Zerola, who is gay and married in a major media event, is demanding that Gallardon give explanations as a member of a party that “has a very clear posture against the Equality Law (same-sex legislation).”

“If what Gallardon is trying to do is to have a photo with gays and lesbians, and not with his own people, he now has it (photo), but he must give an explanation,” Zerola said.

Maybe the explanation can be found in oft-repeated story.

The story is told that once two newborn creatures met – one was a snake and the other a rabbit. The eyes of both were still closed. The baby snake slithered all around the rabbit, and then said: “You have warm fur, whiskers, long ears and you hop around. You must be a bunny.”

“Very good,” said the rabbit, “Now it’s my turn.”

The rabbit touched the snake all over and then said: “You are slippery, you crawl on the ground and have no balls. You must be a politician.”