MADRID, SPAIN - Emilio Menendez and Carlos Baturin consider themselves a family. They have been together for 30 years and married as soon as they could last year.But the couple know they would not be welcome at the Catholic World Meeting of Families in Valencia this weekend because the Vatican has branded gay marriages like theirs "an eclipse of God."
Menendez and Baturin were the first gay couple to marry after Spain legalized same-sex unions, giving them the same rights as heterosexual couples.
"We are a family, we feel like a family, the public accepts us as a family," said Baturin. "If (the Catholic Church) specifically wants to exclude us, well then I don't want to go their party," he added.
Pope Benedict, who will make a flying visit to Valencia for the occasion, has strongly opposed gay unions as an expression of "anarchic freedom" and maintained that heterosexual marriages are "a pillar of humanity."
Much of the weekend family celebration is likely to reiterate those traditional views.
"I'm not surprised they don't see us as a family but it's just a question of time. The Church is very, very, very slow -- four, five, six centuries behind," said Menendez, who was baptized a Catholic but does not practice.
"There are many different types of family. What defines a family is not my sex, my color or anything but rather the desire to stay together, to love each other," he added.
According to the Spanish gay, lesbian and transsexual organization FELGT, 4,500 gay couples have married in the last year while 50 gay couples have applied for adoption and three have filed for divorce.
As the first men to marry in traditionally Catholic Spain, Menendez and Baturin are still recognized in the street and often congratulated by total strangers, in stark contrast to the Vatican's staunch resistance.
Asked what he would say to the Pope if he were granted an audience, Menendez said:
"Christ said the most important commandment was to love each other. That's what I'd say."
from Reuters
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