Same-sex marriage in Spain
Encyclopedia
Same-sex marriage in Spain has been legal since July 3, 2005. In 2004, the nation's newly elected social democratic
government, led by President
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
, began a campaign for its legalization, including the right of adoption by same-sex couples. After much debate, a law permitting same-sex marriage
was passed by the Cortes Generales
(Spain
's bicameral parliament
, composed of the Senate
and the Congress of Deputies
) on 30 June 2005 and published on 2 July 2005. Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain on Sunday, 3 July 2005, making it the third country in the world to do so nationwide, after the Netherlands
and Belgium
and 17 days ahead of Canada
.
The ratification of this law was not devoid of conflict, despite support from 66% of the population. Roman Catholic
authorities in particular were adamantly opposed, criticising what they regarded as the weakening of the meaning of marriage. Other associations expressed concern over the possibility of lesbians and gays adopting children. Demonstrations
for and against the law drew thousands of people from all parts of Spain. After its approval, the conservative
People's Party
challenged the law in the Constitutional Court
.
Approximately 4,500 same-sex couples married in Spain during the first year of the law. Shortly after the law was passed, questions arose about the legal status of marriage to non-Spaniards whose country did not permit same-sex marriage. A ruling from the Justice Ministry stated that the country's same-sex marriage law allows a Spanish citizen to marry a non-Spaniard regardless of whether that person's homeland
recognizes the partnership. At least one partner must be a Spanish citizen in order to marry, although two non-Spaniards may marry if they both have legal residence
in Spain.
The 2011 General Election delivered a landslide victory to the center-right People's Party, whose leader Mariano Rajoy said that he opposed same-sex marriage, but the decision about retaining or repealing the law would be made after the Constitutional Court's ruling.
had opened registers for civil union
s that allowed benefits for unmarried couples of any sex, although the effect was mainly symbolic. Registries were created in 12 out of 17 of Spain's autonomous communities; Catalonia
(1998), Aragon
(1999), Navarre
(2000), Valencia
(2001), Balearic Islands
(2001), Madrid (2001), Asturias
(2002), Andalusia
(2002), Extremadura
(2003), Basque Country
(2003), Canary Islands
(2003) and Cantabria
(2005). Spanish law already allowed single
people to adopt children; thus, a same-sex couple could undertake a de facto
adoption, but the partner who was not the legal parent had no rights if the relationship ended or the legal parent died. Same-sex marriages were not legal in the autonomous communities, because the Spanish Constitution
gives the State sole power to legislate marriage.
On 30 June 2004, the then Minister of Justice Juan Fernando López Aguilar
announced that the Congress of Deputies
had provisionally approved a government plan for legislation to extend the right of marriage to same-sex couples. This was to fulfil a promise made by Prime Minister
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
at his inauguration. López Aguilar also announced two propositions, introduced by the regional Convergència i Unió
party of Catalonia
: one introduced legal status for both opposite- and same-sex common-law unions
(parejas de hecho, "de facto unions"), while the other permitted transgender
ed people to legally change their name
and sex designation without the requirement of surgery
.
The bill regarding same-sex marriage was approved by the Cabinet
on 1 October 2004, submitted to Parliament on 31 December, and passed by the Congress of Deputies on 21 April 2005. However, it was rejected on 22 June 2005 by the Senate, where the opposition People's Party
held a plurality of the seats. The bill was returned to the lower house, which holds the power to override the Senate, and final approval was given to the bill on 30 June 2005 with 187 "yes" votes, 147 "no" votes, and 4 abstentions.
With the final approval, and enactment of the bill on 2 July 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to formally legalize same-sex marriages nationwide, after the Netherlands
and Belgium
.
The first same-sex wedding took place eight days after the bill became law, and was celebrated in the council chamber in the Madrid
suburb of Tres Cantos
by Carlos Baturín and Emilio Menéndez. The first same-sex marriage between women took place in Barcelona
eleven days later.
In spite of these steps toward equal treatment, a legal flaw remained: if children were born within a lesbian
marriage, the non-biological mother was not legally regarded as a parent; she still had to undergo the lengthy financial process of adoption. This right was granted to heterosexual couples (married or not), where a stepfather could declare his wife's children to be his without further process. On 7 November 2006, the government amended the law on assisted reproduction
, allowing the non-biological mother to be regarded as a parent alongside her female spouse who is the birth-mother.
. Although the General Council admitted that the existing discrimination against homosexuals could not be condoned, it was quite critical about extending marriage toward same-sex couples (including collateral adoption). It argued that the extension was not demanded by the Constitution, and that ending discrimination could be achieved through other legal means, such as the extension of civil unions.
Despite this negative report, the government presented the bill to Congress on 1 October 2004. With the exception of the People's Party and members of the Democratic Union of Catalonia
, the different parliamentary parties favoured the reform. On 21 April 2005, Congress approved the bill, with 183 "yes" and 136 "no" votes and 6 abstentions (including a member of the People's Party). The bill to allow same-sex marriage in Spain was short: it added a new paragraph to article 44 of the civil code
, saying that Matrimony shall have the same requisites and effects regardless of whether the persons involved are of the same or different sex.
In accordance with constitutional provisions, the text approved by the Congress was then submitted to the Senate for final approval, change or veto
. On 21 June 2005 experts were called to the Senate to debate the issue. The expert's opinions were diverse; some stated that gay adoption had no effect on a child's development
, except for perhaps a higher tolerance towards homosexuality. However, psychiatrist Aquilino Polaino, called by the People's Party as an expert, called homosexuality a pathology
and emotive disorder
. Among other assertions that generated debate, he claimed that "many homosexuals have rape abuse antecedents since childhood" and that homosexuals generally come from families with "hostile, alcoholic
and distant" fathers, and mothers who were "over protective" toward boys and "cold" toward girls. Prominent People's Party members later rejected Polaino's assertions.
The Senate vetoed the text submitted by the Congress. The veto was proposed by the People's Party, which held the majority of the seats, and by the Democratic Union of Catalonia, and was approved by 131 "yes" and 119 "no" votes and 2 abstentions. As a result, the text was sent back to the Congress. On 30 June 2005 it was approved by Congress, which, in accordance with the constitutional provisions, overrode the Senate veto. This was achieved with 187 "yes" votes (including a member of the People's Party, Celia Villalobos
), 147 "no" votes, and four abstentions. The veto override implied its approval as law. The vote was held after Zapatero unexpectedly took the floor of parliament to speak in its support, saying We are expanding the opportunities for happiness of our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends and our relatives. At the same time, we are building a more decent society. Mariano Rajoy
, the leader of the opposition People's Party, was denied the opportunity to address parliament after Zapatero's appearance, and accused Zapatero of dividing Spanish society.
When the media asked King
Juan Carlos
if he would endorse the bill that was being debated in the Cortes Generales, he answered that he was the King of Spain, not of Belgium
a reference to King Baudouin I of Belgium, who refused to sign the Belgian law legalising abortion
. For the king to withhold his royal assent effects a veto of the legislation, however the king gave his Royal Assent
to Law 13/2005 on 1 July 2005; and the law was gazette
d in the Boletín Oficial del Estado
on 2 July, and came into effect on 3 July. The king received criticism by Carlist and other far right conservatives for endorsing the legislation.
However, the bill's passage was met with concern by Catholic authorities, including Pope John Paul II
— who warned of a weakening of family values
— and his successor Pope Benedict XVI
. Cardinal López Trujillo
, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family
, said the Church was making an urgent call for freedom of conscience
for Catholics and appealing to them to resist the law. He said every profession linked with implementing same-sex marriages should oppose it, even if it meant losing their jobs.
Gay rights supporters argued that while the Catholic Church also formally opposed opposite-sex, non-religious marriage
, its opposition was not as vocal; for example, the Church did not object to the marriage of Crown Prince Felipe
to Letizia Ortiz
, who had divorced from a previous civil marriage. The church was unable to gather enough support to derail the bill, even though 80% of Spaniards identify as members of the Catholic Faith. Sociologists
believe this may be due to the significant increase of liberalism
in the realm of individual rights in recent years, where the Church traditionally had most influence, especially on family issues. A poll showed that three quarters of Spaniards believe the church hierarchy is out of touch with social reality. A complementary explanation might be that the Church's influence on Spaniards declined after the death in 1975 of the dictator
General Francisco Franco
, whose regime was closely linked to the Church.
President Zapatero responded to Church criticism by saying:
On 19 June 2005 there was a public protest against the law. Protesters — led by People's Party members, Spanish bishops and the Spanish Family Forum (Foro Español de la Familia) — said they had rallied 1.5 million people against what they considered an attack on the traditional family; the Government's Delegation in Madrid counted 166,000 at the same event. Two weeks after this protest, coinciding with Gay Pride
Day, FELGT (Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales — the Spanish Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Organization) estimated two million people marched in favour of the new law; police sources counted 97,000. Both marches took place in Madrid
, at the time governed by the conservative People's Party.
Spanish bishops also claimed that the government, by extending the right of marriage to same-sex couples, weakened the meaning of marriage, which they defined as a involving a heterosexual couple. The Spanish Family Forum expressed concern over the possibility of gay couples adopting and raising children, and argued that adoption
is not a right for the parents, but for the adopted. Gay associations replied that de facto adoption by same-sex couples had existed for a long time in Spain, since many couples were rearing minors adopted by one of the partners. Adoption by same-sex couples was already legal in Navarre
, Asturias
, Aragon
, the Basque Country
, and Catalonia
before the same-sex marriage law legalized these adoptions nationwide.
These associations also argued that there was no scientific basis for the claim that the parents' sexual orientation
would cause developmental problems for their adopted children. This view is officially supported by the Spanish School of Psychology
, which also states that homosexuality is not a pathology.
In a 2008 biography, Queen Sofia of Spain
revealed that she preferred the term "civil union" to "marriage" for committed same-gender relationships. This and other alleged comments by the queen opened the Spanish monarchy to rare criticism in 2008, with the Zarzuela palace issuing an apology on behalf of the queen for the "inexact" quotes attributed to her. Antonio Poveda, president of FELGT, said his organization accepted the queen's apology, but added that there remains ill feelings by the gay community towards the queen over the comments King Juan Carlos, known to be far more liberal than his wife, was reportedly incensed by the biography, with reporters stating the king will fire palace officials who allegedly approved official royal endorsement of the book.
During the 2011 General Election, People's Party leader and presidential nominee
Mariano Rajoy
stated he also prefers the term "civil union" to marriage for same-sex couples.
refused to issue a marriage license to a lesbian couple. The judge also filed a constitutional challenge against the same-sex marriage law with the Constitutional Court based on Article 32 of the Constitution that contains the phrase "Men and women have the right to contract marriage with full juridical equality."
In August 2005, a judge from Gran Canaria
refused licenses to three same-sex couples and mounted another constitutional challenge. In December 2005, the Constitutional Court rejected both challenges owing to both judges' lack of standing
to file them. On 30 September 2005, the opposition People's Party decided to initiate a separate constitutional challenge, causing division within the party. There is no outcome as of October 2011.
On 27 February 2007 the Spanish Family Forum presented an initiative signed by 1.5 million people to legislate marriage as the union of a man and a woman only (thus effectively prohibiting same-sex marriage). The initiative was rejected by the Spanish Congress.
On 30 May 2007, the aforementioned judge of Dénia was condemned by the Disciplinary Committee of the General Council of Judiciary Power (Comisión Disciplinaria del Consejo General del Poder Judicial -CGPJ-) to pay 305 euros for refusing to marry a gay couple and was also strictly warned against doing it again. She attributes this action to the "propagandistic machinery" of the government.
Shortly after the law was passed, questions arose about the legal status of marriage to non-Spaniards after a Spaniard and an India
n national living in Catalonia
were denied a marriage license on the grounds that India did not permit
same-sex marriage. However, on 22 July another judge in Catalonia married a Spanish woman and her Argentinian
national partner (the first same-sex marriage between women in Spain
). This judge disagreed with his colleague's decision and gave preference to the right of marriage over Argentinian law not allowing same-sex marriage.
On 27 July, the Junta de Fiscales de Sala – a body within the Public Prosecutor's Corp that advises the Minister of Justice's office – issued an opinion that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT
) Spaniards can marry foreigners from countries that do not permit same-sex marriage. This marriage would be valid according to Spanish law, but did not imply automatic validity according to the foreigner's national law. A ruling published in the Official State Bulletin stated:
According to the instructions from the Ministry of Justice (Dirección General de Registros y Notariado), Spanish Consulates
abroad may carry out the preliminary paperwork for a same-sex marriage. At least one of the marrying partners must be a Spanish citizen, residing in the Consular demarcation. However, the marriage itself can only take place at the Consulate
if local laws recognize same-sex marriages (Spanish consulates in Boston
, Brussels
, The Hague
, Amsterdam
, Oslo
, Toronto
, Montreal
, Ottawa
, Cape Town
, Pretoria
, Stockholm
, Washington DC, Mexico City
, Lisbon
, Oporto
, Reykjavík, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba and Mendoza, as of August 2010). In all other cases, the partners must marry in Spanish territory. Two non-resident foreigners cannot marry in Spain, as at least one of the partners must be a Spanish resident, although they both may be non-Spanish citizens.
According to the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE), 19,643 same-sex marriages took place up to the end of 2010: 1,275 in 2005, 4,574 in 2006, 3,250 in 2007, 3,549 in 2008, 3,412 in 2009 and 3,583 in 2010.
Most same-sex marriages in 2009 took place in: Catalonia
, with 895 weddings (3.24% of all marriages in the Community for that year); Madrid
, 547 (2.77%); Andalusia
, 455 (1.35%); Valencian Community
, 427 (2.34%); and the Canary Islands
, 224 (3.70%).
On 25 July 2007 the BBVA Foundation published their report Social portrait of Spanish people, which reported that 60% of Spain's population support same-sex marriage. This support occurs mainly among the younger population, between 15 and 34 years old (75%), people with higher education (71%), people not attached to any religion (75.5%), and those identified by left and middle-left political views (71.9%). However, only 44% of the population favor the right of adoption by homosexual couples, in contrast to 42% opposition.
leader and Madrid
city councilor Pedro Zerolo
married Jesús Santos in January, and popular television presenter Jesús Vázquez married Roberto Cortés in March. In October 2005, Spain's prominent anti-terrorism judge
Fernando Grande-Marlaska married his fiancé Gorka Gomez. In August 2006 Ourense
city councilor and member of the People's Party
Pepe Araujo, whose party originally opposed the law, married his fiancé Nino Crespo. In September 2006 Alberto Linero Marchena and Alberto Sánchez Fernández, both army soldiers assigned to the Morón Air Base
near Sevilla, became Spain's first military personnel
to marry under the new law. In August 2008, Doña Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia and three-time Grandee of Spain (branded the Red Duchess for her socialist activism), became the highest ranking Spanish noble
to marry in an articulo mortis (deathbed) wedding to longtime companion Liliana Maria Dahlmann, now the Dowager Duchess
of Medina Sidonia by right of her late wife.
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
government, led by President
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...
, began a campaign for its legalization, including the right of adoption by same-sex couples. After much debate, a law permitting same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
was passed by the Cortes Generales
Cortes Generales
The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
(Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
's bicameral parliament
Bicameralism
In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....
, composed of the Senate
Spanish Senate
The Senate of Spain is the upper house of Spain's parliament, the . It is made up of 264 members: 208 elected by popular vote, and 56 appointed by the regional legislatures. All senators serve four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time.The last election...
and the Congress of Deputies
Spanish Congress of Deputies
The Spanish Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. It has 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces using the D'Hondt method. Deputies serve four-year terms...
) on 30 June 2005 and published on 2 July 2005. Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain on Sunday, 3 July 2005, making it the third country in the world to do so nationwide, after the Netherlands
Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001...
and Belgium
Same-sex marriage in Belgium
On June 1, 2003, Belgium became the second country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage, with some restrictions. Originally, Belgium allowed the marriages of foreign same-sex couples only if their country of origin also allowed these unions...
and 17 days ahead of Canada
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
.
The ratification of this law was not devoid of conflict, despite support from 66% of the population. Roman Catholic
Roman Catholicism in Spain
The Spanish Catholic Church, part of the global Roman Catholic Church, is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, curia in Rome, and the Conference of Spanish Bishops.-Statistics:...
authorities in particular were adamantly opposed, criticising what they regarded as the weakening of the meaning of marriage. Other associations expressed concern over the possibility of lesbians and gays adopting children. Demonstrations
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
for and against the law drew thousands of people from all parts of Spain. After its approval, the conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
challenged the law in the Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court of Spain
thumb|300px|The [[Domenico Scarlatti]] Building located in [[Madrid]], seat of the Constitutional Court of Justice of Spain.The Constitutional Court of Spain is the highest judicial body with the power to determine the constitutionality of acts and statutes of the Spanish Government. It is...
.
Approximately 4,500 same-sex couples married in Spain during the first year of the law. Shortly after the law was passed, questions arose about the legal status of marriage to non-Spaniards whose country did not permit same-sex marriage. A ruling from the Justice Ministry stated that the country's same-sex marriage law allows a Spanish citizen to marry a non-Spaniard regardless of whether that person's homeland
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
recognizes the partnership. At least one partner must be a Spanish citizen in order to marry, although two non-Spaniards may marry if they both have legal residence
Permanent residency
Permanent residency refers to a person's visa status: the person is allowed to reside indefinitely within a country of which he or she is not a citizen. A person with such status is known as a permanent resident....
in Spain.
The 2011 General Election delivered a landslide victory to the center-right People's Party, whose leader Mariano Rajoy said that he opposed same-sex marriage, but the decision about retaining or repealing the law would be made after the Constitutional Court's ruling.
History
During the 1990s and early 2000s, several city councils and autonomous communitiesAutonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
had opened registers for civil union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
s that allowed benefits for unmarried couples of any sex, although the effect was mainly symbolic. Registries were created in 12 out of 17 of Spain's autonomous communities; Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
(1998), Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
(1999), Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
(2000), Valencia
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
(2001), Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
(2001), Madrid (2001), Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
(2002), Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
(2002), Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
(2003), Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
(2003), Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
(2003) and Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
(2005). Spanish law already allowed single
Single (relationship)
In legal definitions for interpersonal status, a single person is someone who is not in a relationship or is "unmarried". If a marriage is annulled, however, or it is found to have been void ab initio , and assuming the person was not married previously, that individual is single, rather than...
people to adopt children; thus, a same-sex couple could undertake a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
adoption, but the partner who was not the legal parent had no rights if the relationship ended or the legal parent died. Same-sex marriages were not legal in the autonomous communities, because the Spanish Constitution
Spanish Constitution of 1978
-Structure of the State:The Constitution recognizes the existence of nationalities and regions . Preliminary Title As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution...
gives the State sole power to legislate marriage.
On 30 June 2004, the then Minister of Justice Juan Fernando López Aguilar
Juan Fernando López Aguilar
Juan Fernando López Aguilar is a Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politician, and former Minister of Justice in the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. He also represented Las Palmas in the congress between 2000 and 2004....
announced that the Congress of Deputies
Spanish Congress of Deputies
The Spanish Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. It has 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces using the D'Hondt method. Deputies serve four-year terms...
had provisionally approved a government plan for legislation to extend the right of marriage to same-sex couples. This was to fulfil a promise made by Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...
at his inauguration. López Aguilar also announced two propositions, introduced by the regional Convergència i Unió
Convergència i Unió
Convergence and Union is a centre-right electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. CiU is technically a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia and its smaller counterpart, the Democratic Union of Catalonia . It is currently led by Artur Mas, who is the...
party of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
: one introduced legal status for both opposite- and same-sex common-law unions
Common-law marriage
Common-law marriage, sometimes called sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is a form of interpersonal status that is legally recognized in limited jurisdictions as a marriage even though no legally recognized marriage ceremony is performed or civil marriage...
(parejas de hecho, "de facto unions"), while the other permitted transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
ed people to legally change their name
Name change
Name change generally refers to a legal act allowing a person to adopt a name different than their name at birth, marriage, or adoption. The procedures and ease of a name change depend on the jurisdiction. In general, common law jurisdictions have loose limitations on name changes while civil law...
and sex designation without the requirement of surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
.
The bill regarding same-sex marriage was approved by the Cabinet
Council of Ministers of Spain
The Cabinet of Spain is a collegiate body composed of the President of the Government , Vice Presidents when existing and the Ministers, and any other member required by law, and in some cases Secretaries of State...
on 1 October 2004, submitted to Parliament on 31 December, and passed by the Congress of Deputies on 21 April 2005. However, it was rejected on 22 June 2005 by the Senate, where the opposition People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
held a plurality of the seats. The bill was returned to the lower house, which holds the power to override the Senate, and final approval was given to the bill on 30 June 2005 with 187 "yes" votes, 147 "no" votes, and 4 abstentions.
With the final approval, and enactment of the bill on 2 July 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to formally legalize same-sex marriages nationwide, after the Netherlands
Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001...
and Belgium
Same-sex marriage in Belgium
On June 1, 2003, Belgium became the second country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage, with some restrictions. Originally, Belgium allowed the marriages of foreign same-sex couples only if their country of origin also allowed these unions...
.
The first same-sex wedding took place eight days after the bill became law, and was celebrated in the council chamber in the Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
suburb of Tres Cantos
Tres Cantos
Tres Cantos is a township and municipality located in the autonomous community of Madrid, Spain, some 22 km north of the capital city, Madrid. As a "satellite city" of Madrid which was conceived by urban planners as recently as the 1970s, it is the youngest incorporated municipality in Spain, with...
by Carlos Baturín and Emilio Menéndez. The first same-sex marriage between women took place in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
eleven days later.
In spite of these steps toward equal treatment, a legal flaw remained: if children were born within a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
marriage, the non-biological mother was not legally regarded as a parent; she still had to undergo the lengthy financial process of adoption. This right was granted to heterosexual couples (married or not), where a stepfather could declare his wife's children to be his without further process. On 7 November 2006, the government amended the law on assisted reproduction
Reproductive technology
Reproductive technology encompasses all current and anticipated uses of technology in human and animal reproduction, including assisted reproductive technology, contraception and others.-Assisted reproductive technology:...
, allowing the non-biological mother to be regarded as a parent alongside her female spouse who is the birth-mother.
Ratification of Law 13/2005
The projected bill announced on 30 June 2004 by the Minister of Justice was studied by the General Council of the JudiciaryGeneral Council of the Judicial Power of Spain
The General Council of the Judiciary is the constitutional body that governs all the Judiciary of Spain, such as courts, and judges, as it is established by the Spanish Constitution of 1978, article 122 and developed by the Organic Law 6/1985 of the Judiciary Power...
. Although the General Council admitted that the existing discrimination against homosexuals could not be condoned, it was quite critical about extending marriage toward same-sex couples (including collateral adoption). It argued that the extension was not demanded by the Constitution, and that ending discrimination could be achieved through other legal means, such as the extension of civil unions.
Despite this negative report, the government presented the bill to Congress on 1 October 2004. With the exception of the People's Party and members of the Democratic Union of Catalonia
Democratic Union of Catalonia
The Democratic Union of Catalonia is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. Together with the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia, it is part of the Convergence and Union coalition.It describes itself as Catalan nationalist and Christian Democrat....
, the different parliamentary parties favoured the reform. On 21 April 2005, Congress approved the bill, with 183 "yes" and 136 "no" votes and 6 abstentions (including a member of the People's Party). The bill to allow same-sex marriage in Spain was short: it added a new paragraph to article 44 of the civil code
Civil code
A civil code is a systematic collection of laws designed to comprehensively deal with the core areas of private law. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure...
, saying that Matrimony shall have the same requisites and effects regardless of whether the persons involved are of the same or different sex.
In accordance with constitutional provisions, the text approved by the Congress was then submitted to the Senate for final approval, change or veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
. On 21 June 2005 experts were called to the Senate to debate the issue. The expert's opinions were diverse; some stated that gay adoption had no effect on a child's development
Child development
Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....
, except for perhaps a higher tolerance towards homosexuality. However, psychiatrist Aquilino Polaino, called by the People's Party as an expert, called homosexuality a pathology
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
and emotive disorder
Emotional and behavioral disorders
Emotional and behavioral disorders is a broad category which is used commonly in educational settings, to group a range of more specific perceived difficulties of children and adolescents...
. Among other assertions that generated debate, he claimed that "many homosexuals have rape abuse antecedents since childhood" and that homosexuals generally come from families with "hostile, alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and distant" fathers, and mothers who were "over protective" toward boys and "cold" toward girls. Prominent People's Party members later rejected Polaino's assertions.
The Senate vetoed the text submitted by the Congress. The veto was proposed by the People's Party, which held the majority of the seats, and by the Democratic Union of Catalonia, and was approved by 131 "yes" and 119 "no" votes and 2 abstentions. As a result, the text was sent back to the Congress. On 30 June 2005 it was approved by Congress, which, in accordance with the constitutional provisions, overrode the Senate veto. This was achieved with 187 "yes" votes (including a member of the People's Party, Celia Villalobos
Celia Villalobos
Celia Villalobos Talero is a Spanish politician.She was the mayor of Málaga from 1995 to 2000, when she joined José María Aznar's cabinet as the minister of food and health from 2000 to 2002. Her role at this ministry was controversial mainly due to a speech she gave during the concern over...
), 147 "no" votes, and four abstentions. The veto override implied its approval as law. The vote was held after Zapatero unexpectedly took the floor of parliament to speak in its support, saying We are expanding the opportunities for happiness of our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends and our relatives. At the same time, we are building a more decent society. Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy Brey is a Spanish People's Party politician and is the Prime Minister-elect since 20 November 2011. He will be sworn into office in mid-December 2011....
, the leader of the opposition People's Party, was denied the opportunity to address parliament after Zapatero's appearance, and accused Zapatero of dividing Spanish society.
When the media asked King
Spanish monarchy
The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as The Crown and commonly referred to as the Spanish monarchy or Hispanic Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and an historic office of Spain...
Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
if he would endorse the bill that was being debated in the Cortes Generales, he answered that he was the King of Spain, not of Belgium
Monarchy of Belgium
Monarchy in Belgium is constitutional and popular in nature. The hereditary monarch, at present Albert II, is the head of state and is officially called King of the Belgians .-Origins:...
a reference to King Baudouin I of Belgium, who refused to sign the Belgian law legalising abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
. For the king to withhold his royal assent effects a veto of the legislation, however the king gave his Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
to Law 13/2005 on 1 July 2005; and the law was gazette
Gazette
A gazette is a public journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.In English- and French-speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name Gazette since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers bear the name The Gazette.Gazette is a loanword from the...
d in the Boletín Oficial del Estado
Boletín Oficial del Estado
The Boletín Oficial del Estado , Spanish for Official Bulletin of the State, is the official gazette of the Government of Spain. It publishes the laws of the Cortes Generales and the dispositions of the Autonomous Communities...
on 2 July, and came into effect on 3 July. The king received criticism by Carlist and other far right conservatives for endorsing the legislation.
Reactions
A poll by the government-run Centre for Sociological Investigations (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas), published in April 2005, reported that 66% of Spaniards favoured legalising same-sex marriage. Another poll taken by Instituto Opina a day before the bill passed placed support of the same-sex marriage bill at 62.1% and support of adoption by same-sex couples at 49.1%. An Instituto Opina poll taken nine months after the bill passed said 61% agreed with the government's decision.However, the bill's passage was met with concern by Catholic authorities, including Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
— who warned of a weakening of family values
Family values
Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....
— and his successor Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
. Cardinal López Trujillo
Alfonso López Trujillo
Alfonso López Trujillo was a Colombian Cardinal Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.-Youth:...
, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family
Pontifical Council for the Family
The Pontifical Council for the Family is part of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church. It was established by Pope John Paul II on 9 May 1981 with his motu proprio Familia a Deo Instituta, replacing the Committee for the Family that Pope Paul VI had established in 1973...
, said the Church was making an urgent call for freedom of conscience
Freedom of thought
Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints....
for Catholics and appealing to them to resist the law. He said every profession linked with implementing same-sex marriages should oppose it, even if it meant losing their jobs.
Gay rights supporters argued that while the Catholic Church also formally opposed opposite-sex, non-religious marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
, its opposition was not as vocal; for example, the Church did not object to the marriage of Crown Prince Felipe
Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Felipe, Prince of Asturias de Borbón y de Grecia; born 30 January 1968), is the third child and only son of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain....
to Letizia Ortiz
Letizia, Princess of Asturias
Letizia, Princess of Asturias , is the wife of Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the heir apparent to the Spanish throne...
, who had divorced from a previous civil marriage. The church was unable to gather enough support to derail the bill, even though 80% of Spaniards identify as members of the Catholic Faith. Sociologists
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
believe this may be due to the significant increase of liberalism
Cultural liberalism
Cultural liberalism is a liberal view of society that stresses the freedom of individuals from cultural norms. It is often expressed, in the words of Thoreau as the right to "march to the beat of a different drummer"...
in the realm of individual rights in recent years, where the Church traditionally had most influence, especially on family issues. A poll showed that three quarters of Spaniards believe the church hierarchy is out of touch with social reality. A complementary explanation might be that the Church's influence on Spaniards declined after the death in 1975 of the dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
General Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, whose regime was closely linked to the Church.
President Zapatero responded to Church criticism by saying:
On 19 June 2005 there was a public protest against the law. Protesters — led by People's Party members, Spanish bishops and the Spanish Family Forum (Foro Español de la Familia) — said they had rallied 1.5 million people against what they considered an attack on the traditional family; the Government's Delegation in Madrid counted 166,000 at the same event. Two weeks after this protest, coinciding with Gay Pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
Day, FELGT (Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales — the Spanish Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Organization) estimated two million people marched in favour of the new law; police sources counted 97,000. Both marches took place in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, at the time governed by the conservative People's Party.
Spanish bishops also claimed that the government, by extending the right of marriage to same-sex couples, weakened the meaning of marriage, which they defined as a involving a heterosexual couple. The Spanish Family Forum expressed concern over the possibility of gay couples adopting and raising children, and argued that adoption
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
is not a right for the parents, but for the adopted. Gay associations replied that de facto adoption by same-sex couples had existed for a long time in Spain, since many couples were rearing minors adopted by one of the partners. Adoption by same-sex couples was already legal in Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
, Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
, and Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
before the same-sex marriage law legalized these adoptions nationwide.
These associations also argued that there was no scientific basis for the claim that the parents' sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
would cause developmental problems for their adopted children. This view is officially supported by the Spanish School of Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, which also states that homosexuality is not a pathology.
In a 2008 biography, Queen Sofia of Spain
Queen Sofía of Spain
Queen Sofía of Spain is the wife of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.-Early life and family:Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark was born in Psychiko, Athens, Greece on 2 November 1938, the eldest child of the King Paul of Greece and his wife, Queen Frederika , a former princess of Hanover...
revealed that she preferred the term "civil union" to "marriage" for committed same-gender relationships. This and other alleged comments by the queen opened the Spanish monarchy to rare criticism in 2008, with the Zarzuela palace issuing an apology on behalf of the queen for the "inexact" quotes attributed to her. Antonio Poveda, president of FELGT, said his organization accepted the queen's apology, but added that there remains ill feelings by the gay community towards the queen over the comments King Juan Carlos, known to be far more liberal than his wife, was reportedly incensed by the biography, with reporters stating the king will fire palace officials who allegedly approved official royal endorsement of the book.
During the 2011 General Election, People's Party leader and presidential nominee
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...
Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy Brey is a Spanish People's Party politician and is the Prime Minister-elect since 20 November 2011. He will be sworn into office in mid-December 2011....
stated he also prefers the term "civil union" to marriage for same-sex couples.
Opposition court challenges
On 21 July 2005, a judge from the city of DéniaDénia
Dénia is a city in the province of Alicante, Spain, on the Costa Blanca halfway between Alicante and Valencia, the judicial seat of the comarca of Marina Alta...
refused to issue a marriage license to a lesbian couple. The judge also filed a constitutional challenge against the same-sex marriage law with the Constitutional Court based on Article 32 of the Constitution that contains the phrase "Men and women have the right to contract marriage with full juridical equality."
In August 2005, a judge from Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, with a population of 838,397 which constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago...
refused licenses to three same-sex couples and mounted another constitutional challenge. In December 2005, the Constitutional Court rejected both challenges owing to both judges' lack of standing
Standing (law)
In law, standing or locus standi is the term for the ability of a party to demonstrate to the court sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action challenged to support that party's participation in the case...
to file them. On 30 September 2005, the opposition People's Party decided to initiate a separate constitutional challenge, causing division within the party. There is no outcome as of October 2011.
On 27 February 2007 the Spanish Family Forum presented an initiative signed by 1.5 million people to legislate marriage as the union of a man and a woman only (thus effectively prohibiting same-sex marriage). The initiative was rejected by the Spanish Congress.
On 30 May 2007, the aforementioned judge of Dénia was condemned by the Disciplinary Committee of the General Council of Judiciary Power (Comisión Disciplinaria del Consejo General del Poder Judicial -CGPJ-) to pay 305 euros for refusing to marry a gay couple and was also strictly warned against doing it again. She attributes this action to the "propagandistic machinery" of the government.
Residency issues
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n national living in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
were denied a marriage license on the grounds that India did not permit
Homosexuality in India
Homosexuality is generally considered a taboo subject by both Indian civil society and the government. Public discussion of homosexuality in India has been inhibited by the fact that sexuality in any form is rarely discussed openly. In recent years, however, attitudes towards homosexuality have...
same-sex marriage. However, on 22 July another judge in Catalonia married a Spanish woman and her Argentinian
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
national partner (the first same-sex marriage between women in Spain
First same-sex marriage in Spain
The first same-sex marriage in Spain after the Roman Imperial era took place on June 8, 1901.Two women, Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sanchez Loriga, attempted to get married in A Coruña . To achieve it Elisa had to adopt a male identity: Mario Sánchez, as listed on the marriage certificate...
). This judge disagreed with his colleague's decision and gave preference to the right of marriage over Argentinian law not allowing same-sex marriage.
On 27 July, the Junta de Fiscales de Sala – a body within the Public Prosecutor's Corp that advises the Minister of Justice's office – issued an opinion that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) Spaniards can marry foreigners from countries that do not permit same-sex marriage. This marriage would be valid according to Spanish law, but did not imply automatic validity according to the foreigner's national law. A ruling published in the Official State Bulletin stated:
According to the instructions from the Ministry of Justice (Dirección General de Registros y Notariado), Spanish Consulates
Foreign relations of Spain
After the return of democracy following the death of General Franco in 1975, Spain's foreign policy priorities were to break out of the diplomatic isolation of the Franco years and expand diplomatic relations, enter the European Community, and define security relations with NATO, later joining the...
abroad may carry out the preliminary paperwork for a same-sex marriage. At least one of the marrying partners must be a Spanish citizen, residing in the Consular demarcation. However, the marriage itself can only take place at the Consulate
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
if local laws recognize same-sex marriages (Spanish consulates in Boston
Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only heterosexual couples to marry...
, Brussels
Same-sex marriage in Belgium
On June 1, 2003, Belgium became the second country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage, with some restrictions. Originally, Belgium allowed the marriages of foreign same-sex couples only if their country of origin also allowed these unions...
, The Hague
Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001...
, Amsterdam
Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001...
, Oslo
Same-sex marriage in Norway
Same-sex marriage became legal in Norway on January 1, 2009 when a gender neutral marriage bill was enacted after being passed by the Norwegian legislature in June 2008...
, Toronto
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
, Montreal
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
, Ottawa
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
, Cape Town
Same-sex marriage in South Africa
Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since 30 November 2006, when the Civil Union Act, 2006 came into force, having been passed by Parliament earlier that month. A ruling by the Constitutional Court on 1 December 2005 had given Parliament one year to make same-sex marriage legal...
, Pretoria
Same-sex marriage in South Africa
Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since 30 November 2006, when the Civil Union Act, 2006 came into force, having been passed by Parliament earlier that month. A ruling by the Constitutional Court on 1 December 2005 had given Parliament one year to make same-sex marriage legal...
, Stockholm
Same-sex marriage in Sweden
Same-sex marriage in Sweden has been legal since 1 May 2009, following the adoption of a new, gender-neutral law on marriage by the Swedish parliament on 1 April 2009, making Sweden the seventh country in the world to open marriage to same sex couples nationwide...
, Washington DC, Mexico City
Same-sex marriage in Mexico City
Same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City —the Federal District of Mexico— having been approved by its Legislative Assembly on 21 December 2009, and signed into law by Head of Government Marcelo Ebrard on 29 December 2009...
, Lisbon
Same-sex marriage in Portugal
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Portugal since June 5, 2010. The government of Prime Minister José Sócrates introduced a bill for legalization in December 2009; it was passed by the Assembly of the Republic in February 2010. The bill was declared legally valid by the Portuguese Constitutional...
, Oporto
Same-sex marriage in Portugal
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Portugal since June 5, 2010. The government of Prime Minister José Sócrates introduced a bill for legalization in December 2009; it was passed by the Assembly of the Republic in February 2010. The bill was declared legally valid by the Portuguese Constitutional...
, Reykjavík, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba and Mendoza, as of August 2010). In all other cases, the partners must marry in Spanish territory. Two non-resident foreigners cannot marry in Spain, as at least one of the partners must be a Spanish resident, although they both may be non-Spanish citizens.
Marriage statistics
| Year | Marriages between men | Marriages between women | Same-sex marriages | Total marriages | % same-sex marriages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 (since July) | 923 | 352 | 1,275 | 120,728 | 1.06 |
| 2006 | 3,190 | 1,384 | 4,574 | 211,818 | 2.16 |
| 2007 | 2,180 | 1,070 | 3,250 | 203,697 | 1.60 |
| 2008 | 2,299 | 1,250 | 3,549 | 196,613 | 1.81 |
| 2009 | 2,212 | 1,200 | 3,412 | 175,952 | 1.94 |
| 2010 | 2,216 | 1,367 | 3,583 | 170,815 | 2.10 |
Most same-sex marriages in 2009 took place in: Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, with 895 weddings (3.24% of all marriages in the Community for that year); Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, 547 (2.77%); Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, 455 (1.35%); Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
, 427 (2.34%); and the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, 224 (3.70%).
On 25 July 2007 the BBVA Foundation published their report Social portrait of Spanish people, which reported that 60% of Spain's population support same-sex marriage. This support occurs mainly among the younger population, between 15 and 34 years old (75%), people with higher education (71%), people not attached to any religion (75.5%), and those identified by left and middle-left political views (71.9%). However, only 44% of the population favor the right of adoption by homosexual couples, in contrast to 42% opposition.
Notable weddings
Since its legalization in 2005, couples from a cross section of Spanish society have entered into same-sex marriage. Within the first year the law received royal assent, an influential socialistSpanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
leader and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
city councilor Pedro Zerolo
Pedro Zerolo
Pedro González Zerolo is a Spanish lawyer and politician, currently a town councilman of the city of Madrid, and a member of the Federal Executive Committee of the PSOE where he holds the position of Secretary for Social Movements and Relations with NGOs...
married Jesús Santos in January, and popular television presenter Jesús Vázquez married Roberto Cortés in March. In October 2005, Spain's prominent anti-terrorism judge
Anti-terrorism legislation
Anti-terrorism legislation designs various types of laws passed in the aim of fighting terrorism. They usually, if not always, follow specific bombings or assassinations...
Fernando Grande-Marlaska married his fiancé Gorka Gomez. In August 2006 Ourense
Ourense
Ourense is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the province of the same name in Galicia. Its population of 108,674 accounts for 30% of the population of the province and makes it the third largest city of Galicia.-Population:...
city councilor and member of the People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
Pepe Araujo, whose party originally opposed the law, married his fiancé Nino Crespo. In September 2006 Alberto Linero Marchena and Alberto Sánchez Fernández, both army soldiers assigned to the Morón Air Base
Morón Air Base
Morón Air Base is located at in southern Spain, approximately southeast of the city of Seville and northeast of Naval Station Rota. The base gets its name from the nearby town of Morón de la Frontera - although its is actually located in the municipality of Arahal.Morón's massive flight line,...
near Sevilla, became Spain's first military personnel
Spanish Armed Forces
The Spanish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Kingdom of Spain. The Spanish Armed Forces are a modern military force charged with defending the Kingdom's integrity and sovereignty...
to marry under the new law. In August 2008, Doña Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia and three-time Grandee of Spain (branded the Red Duchess for her socialist activism), became the highest ranking Spanish noble
Spanish nobility
Spanish nobles are persons who possess the legal status of hereditary nobility according to the laws and traditions of the Spanish monarchy. A system of titles and honours of Spain and of the former kingdoms that constitute it comprise the Spanish nobility...
to marry in an articulo mortis (deathbed) wedding to longtime companion Liliana Maria Dahlmann, now the Dowager Duchess
Dowager
A dowager is a widow who holds a title or property, or dower, derived from her deceased husband. As an adjective, "Dowager" usually appears in association with monarchical and aristocratic titles....
of Medina Sidonia by right of her late wife.
See also
- LGBT rights in Spain
- First same-sex marriage in SpainFirst same-sex marriage in SpainThe first same-sex marriage in Spain after the Roman Imperial era took place on June 8, 1901.Two women, Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sanchez Loriga, attempted to get married in A Coruña . To achieve it Elisa had to adopt a male identity: Mario Sánchez, as listed on the marriage certificate...
- LGBT rights by country
- Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe
External links
- CIS "barometer" from June 2004 showing 66.2% support for gay marriage
- Same-Sex Marriage: A Selective Bibliography of the Legal Literature (includes Spanish case)
- Webpage of a known activist supporter of the law that includes diary of events towards legalization
- Spanish sworn translation of documents required for same-sex marriage in Spain