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November 18, 2008
The Queen doesn't like "queens"
Posted by: Andoni
Well, not THE Queen as in Elizabeth, but the Queen as in Sofia of Spain. Turns out she doesn't like gays.
In a new book, "The Queen Up Close" by Pilar Urbano, Queen Sofia tells the author that while she respects other sexual orientations, she does not understand why "they should feel proud to be gay." Then she goes on to say
That they get up on floats and parade in the streets? If all of us who are not gay were to parade in the streets, we'd halt the traffic in every city.
The Queen also opined that although gays were entitled to unions, the unions should not be called marriage.
All I have to say is that the Queen probably can't help herself -- she was brought up Greek.
Before she married Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and converted to Catholicism, she was Princess Sophia of Greece and brought up in the Greek Orthodox religion. Greek Orthodox is even more homophobic than Roman Catholic -- if such a thing is possible. Good thing the monarchy is pretty much a figurehead in Spain and the Queen's views don't really matter in governing. In 2005, the Spanish government was among the first countries to legalize same sex marriage in spite of the views of the Church (or the monarchy). Apparently the churches in Spain have less influence over government than the churches in the United States. Could it be that all that bad history Spain had with Church and state intermingling taught the people that the church should not be involved in matters of the state?
The Queen's comments were roundly denounced by Spanish liberals and gays. The palace apologized but also claimed that she was "inexactly" quoted, and the gay community more or less accepted the apology. The 70 year old Queen did not limit her candid comments to gays however; she also spoke out on euthanasia and religious education in schools
King Juan Carlos is reported angry at the staff that permitted the Queen to sit for interviews for the book because the carefully controlled facade of the royal family has been pierced.
As a tangential note, the trial of those first same sex weddings in Greece was supposed to commence on Oct. 2, but it has been postponed to Dec. 4. It will be interesting to see if Greece has progressed as far as Spain in allowing for the separation of church and state. In my opinion the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece is more powerful than the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. The civil marriage laws in Greece were clearly gender neutral. So we'll see if Greece follows the law or a religiously biased interpretation of the law.
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Comments
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This is old news, Andoni. It's been reported on before.
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It was in today's New York Times. So I guess we can change their slogan to "All the news that's not too old to print."
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She is just too sarcastic and very stereotype.
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your as cold as ice your willing to sacrifise some day you'lle pay the price god will save and rescue all humans. those africans who are poor but when there dead there angels. just like white people i thank the soldiers. god bless us all. i watched that old film called (a time to kill when a little black girl got raped bye rascist white men) you cold devils god bless you.
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Chuck on Nov 18, 2008 1:13:35 PM:
This is old news, Andoni. It's been reported on before.