Gay Marriage

Same-sex marriage in Spain was legalized in 2005.
In 2004, the nation's newly elected Socialist government,
led by President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero,
began a campaign for its legalization,
which would include 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 officially became legal in Spain on Sunday, 3 July 2005.

The ratification of this law has not been devoid of conflict, despite support from 66% of the population. Roman Catholic authorities in particular were adamantly opposed to it, 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 to marry, although two non-Spaniards may marry if they both have legal residence in Spain.

Reaction

A poll by the government-run Center 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 Roman 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 Roman 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 Roman 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 Roman Catholic.
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 has declined since the death in 1975 of the dictator General Francisco Franco, whose regime was closely linked to the Church. Opinion polls suggest that nearly half of Spaniards now almost never go to mass.

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President Zapatero responded to
Catholic criticism by saying:

"There is no damage to marriage or to the family in allowing two people of the same sex to get married. Rather, these citizens now have the ability to organize their lives according to marital and familial norms and demands. There is no threat to the institution of marriage, but precisely the opposite: this law recognizes and values marriage.

Aware that some people and institutions profoundly disagree with this legal change, I wish to say that like other reforms to the marriage code that preceded this one, this law will not generate bad results, that its only consequence will be to avoid senseless suffering of human beings. A society that avoids senseless suffering of its citizens is a better society.

In any case, I wish to express my deep respect to those people and institutions, and I also want to ask for the same respect for all of those who approve of this law. To the homosexuals that have personally tolerated the abuse and insults for many years, I ask that you add to the courage you have demonstrated in your struggle for civil rights, an example of generosity and joy with respect to all the beliefs"

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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 equalizing same-sex and opposite-sex couples,
weakened the meaning of marriage, which they defined as a couple of different sexes.
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.

gay marriage In Spain