Tens of thousands of people lined the city’s downtown Plaza de Colon square to celebrate the mass conducted by Cardinal Atonio Ruoco Varela, the archbishop of Madrid.

Ruoco Varela attacked the reforms of the socialist government, which include gay marriage, fast-track divorce and easier access to abortions.

He talked about the truth of marriage, a veiled reference to the country’s 5 year old gay marriage law.

“Anytime you deny the truth of marriage and family, in theory or practice, the negative consequences will come forward rapidly,” he said.

The mass enjoyed the support of the conservative Popular Party, which has challenged the constitutionality of the gay marriage law in court. The party’s Mariano Rajoy is attempting to unseat Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in elections to be held early next year.
Pope Benedict appeared via satellite from Rome to bless the gathering. He called on Catholic families to remain authentic to the church values of “loyalty, respect and understanding.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)

This is the fourth annual mass against gay marriage held at the square.

escuela sin armario

“We want a school to which young people are not afraid of LGTB attend,
where the teacher is free to express their difference,
where the children of families who make the LGTB are so dear
and respected as anyone, where no one breaks there rejection or violence”

Hundreds of thousands have collapsed Saturday at the center of Madrid after singing and dancing multicolored floats and banners for the “emotional-sexual diversity” in education as part of the Gay Pride march.

From the Puerta de Alcalá to Plaza of Spain through the Gran Via, have passed clusters of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals who came from across Spain to participate in a ride that organizers say is a “political tool” to normalize homosexuality in school.

At 6pm when the march begun, the Minister of Equality, Bibiana Aidoo, representatives of the PSOE, IU and UpyD, union leaders and major youth organizations, carryied a banner with the slogan A school without enclosures. The participants to read a manifesto for the normalization of homosexuality in schools.

March for recognition of LGBT identity in schools

In remarks before taking part in the ride, Aidoo has assured that there are “many reasons to be proud” because Spain is a country that has opened a clear bet for the extension of rights. “The Ministery of Equality has stated that all gays lesbian, transsexual and bisexual “have at their side the Government” and has ensured that 50% of gay adolescents suffer violence in schools. “We all have to help make school a safe space for diversity, because whatever small they learn lasts forever,” he said.

Beside him, the president of the Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals, Antonio Poveda, has expressed his pride because “Spain is an example throughout the world in the advancement of social rights”, but said that there that “further progress” and that “education is the next fight.”

After the banners, dozens of gay groups from Seville, Barcelona, Gandía, Logrono Asturias marched singing or shouting and shooting left by the thousands who crowded as a solid mass on both sides of the march prepared to chant any slogan.