Spanish Queen and same-sex couples

MADRID (AFP) —
Spain's Queen Sofia has said she opposes the use of the term marriage
for same-sex couples, who have been able to marry in the mostly Catholic country
since 2005, according to a new biography.


"If these people want to live together and dress it up as marriage,
they can be within their rights, or not, according to the laws of their country,"
she is quoted as saying in the book "La reina muy de cerca" (The Queen Up Close).

But she added that this should not be called marriage "because it is not."

The book, presented to the press on Thursday, was due to go on sale on Sunday
to coincide with Greek-born Queen Sofia's 70th birthday.

Spain became only the third member of the European Union,
after Belgium and the Netherlands, to allow same-sex marriages
giving couples the same rights as married heterosexuals in July 2005 with a law
that also legalised adoptions by gays and lesbians.


Homosexuality was legalised in Spain in 1979 shortly
after the death of dictator Francisco Franco
whose regime shipped off gays to institutions that some activists
have likened to concentration camps.

The Roman Catholic Church remains influential in Spain,
a country which is officially 80 percent Catholic
but where only about 40 percent practise the religion.