Moral Values

by hilzoy

Via Freiheit Und Wissen, here's part of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's speech on the occasion of the Spanish vote in favor of legalizing gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. It was just too good not to post.

"We are not legislating, honorable members, for people far away and not known by us. We are enlarging the opportunity for happiness to our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends and, our families: at the same time we are making a more decent society, because a decent society is one that does not humiliate its members.

"In the poem 'The Family,' our [gay] poet Luis Cernuda was sorry because, 'How does man live in denial in vain/ by giving rules that prohibit and condemn?' Today, the Spanish society answers to a group of people who, during many years have, been humiliated, whose rights have been ignored, whose dignity has been offended, their identity denied, and their liberty oppressed. Today the Spanish society grants them the respect they deserve, recognizes their rights, restores their dignity, affirms their identity, and restores their liberty.

"It is true that they are only a minority, but their triumph is everyone's triumph. It is also the triumph of those who oppose this law, even though they do not know this yet: because it is the triumph of Liberty. Their victory makes all of us (even those who oppose the law) better people, it makes our society better. Honorable members, There is no damage to marriage or to the concept of family in allowing two people of the same sex to get married. To the contrary, what happens is this class of Spanish citizens get the potential to organize their lives with the rights and privileges of marriage and family. There is no danger to the institution of marriage, but precisely the opposite: this law enhances and respects marriage.

"Today, conscious that some people and institutions are in a profound disagreement with this change in our civil law, I wish to express that, like other reforms to the marriage code that preceded this one, this law will generate no evil, that its only consequence will be the avoiding of senseless suffering of decent human beings. A society that avoids senseless suffering of decent human beings is a better society.

"With the approval of this Bill, our country takes another step in the path of liberty and tolerance that was begun by the democratic change of government. Our children will look at us incredulously if we tell them that many years ago, our mothers had less rights than our fathers, or if we tell them that people had to stay married against their will even though they were unable to share their lives. Today we can offer them a beautiful lesson: every right gained, each access to liberty has been the result of the struggle and sacrifice of many people that deserve our recognition and praise."

The translation is by Rex Wockner.

Comments

[hilzoy]

There were actually paragraphs in that when I posted it, where the quotation marks are. Grr.

[Anarch]

suuuuuuuure there were...

[Barry]

html giveth, CSS taketh away.

[John Thullen]

"A society that avoids senseless suffering of decent human beings is a better society."

Yes, but senseless suffering occupies a sacred place in the Judeo-Christian ethic. Plus, the phrase "senseless suffering" is not mentioned in the Constitution, but is only apparent to those who can detect penumbras and emanations.

It may be that the electorate, through their representative bodies, may enjoy senseless suffering and believe it is good for the sufferers to suffer senselessly.

By the way, the ever-narrowing comments box makes me realize what E.E. Cummings must have felt like when he looked at the blank page.

Actually, I think a very small, one-word sized comments box, just for me, would greatly improve OBWI threads. ;)

[Dylan Guy]

Bravissimo!

[Jesurgislac]

Bis!

[liberal japonicus]

For those of you who want to work on your Spanish, here is a link informativos.telecinco.es/zapatero/discurso/matrimonio-gay/dn_7461.htm

It is interesting that Wockner felt it necessary to note that Cernuda was gay, I'm thinking that most Spanish know this, so it was left unsaid. I also note that you left out the last paragraph, which refers to the Greek poet Kavafis, who is also relatively well known in Europe, but here, not so much. His name in English is Cavafy, and this is a page of his poems
users.hol.gr/~barbanis/cavafy/

(one or the other is getting flagged as comment spam, apologies for not getting it for clik thru)

[chris]

I remember asking a Spanish friend at the time of the election whether Zapatero had anything much going for him beyond the obvious advantage of not being Aznar. He wasn't sure then.

We are answered.

[Jeremy Osner]

Thanks Hilzoy, this is a pleasant speech to see on Independence Day. I'm not looking forward to opening the paper and see what my own president has for me today...

[Tad Brennan]

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

If you're around the Chicago area today, come up and see the Evanston parade--my neighborhood group is putting the finishing touches on a mammoth, 100 ft. long float. We've been working on it for weeks.

Oh--and I heartily recommend the Declaration for your morning's reading. Has a lot of moral values in it.

[hilzoy]

Paragraphs!!

[Pushkar]

Exellent poem ,bravo,thanks fot the poem

[Geetanjali]

My heart was touched