«Spain to approve gay marriage in 2 weeks

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Socialist government will approve gay marriage at an October 1 cabinet meeting, a partyleader says, putting into action a plan that has enraged church leaders in this traditionally Catholic country."The cabinet...is going to approve the change to the civil code so that people of the same sex can marry. Why are we doingthis? Because people have to be in charge of their own destiny," Jose Blanco, a leading member of the Socialist party told arally in the northwestern region of Galicia on Sunday.The reform will then have to be approved by parliament.Spain is increasingly liberal, with almost 70 percent supporting gay marriage, according to a recent survey.But 95 percent of the population is registered as Catholic and the country was ruled for some four decades to 1975 bydictator General Francisco Franco, a staunch Catholic who banned homosexuality and divorce.The country's bishops have fought the new government's liberal agenda, calling the planned law "dangerous" and PopeJohn Paul gave Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero a stern lecture on morals earlier this year.»