Same-sex marriage in Spain

[1] After much debate, a law permitting same-sex marriage was passed by the Cortes Generales (the Spanish Parliament, composed of the Senate and the Congress of Deputies) by a vote of 187–147 on June 30, 2005, and published on July 2.

A decision 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 union.

The November 2011 general election delivered a landslide victory to the People's Party, whose leader Mariano Rajoy said he opposed same-sex marriage, but any decision about repealing the law would be made only after the ruling of the Constitutional Court.

[15][16][17] The first law recognising cohabiting same-sex couples was passed in 1994 for the purpose of providing limited legal rights with regard to renting.

[26] Registries were eventually created in all 17 of Spain's autonomous communities; in Catalonia (1998),[27] Aragon (1999),[27] Navarre (2000),[27] Castile-La Mancha (2000),[27] Valencia (2001),[28] the Balearic Islands (2001),[29] Madrid (2001),[27] Asturias (2002),[30] Castile and León (2002),[31] Andalusia (2002),[27] the Canary Islands (2003),[27] Extremadura (2003),[27] the Basque Country (2003),[27] Cantabria (2005),[32] Galicia (2008),[33] La Rioja (2010),[34] and Murcia (2018),[35][36] and in both autonomous cities; Ceuta (1998)[37] and Melilla (2008).

[39] After the Socialists' victory in the election, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero promised at his inauguration address to bring this change forward: "The moment has finally arrived to end once and for all the intolerable discrimination which many Spaniards suffer because of their sexual preferences.

[1] On June 30, 2004, 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.

[40] The bill regarding same-sex marriage was approved by the Council of Ministers on October 1, 2004, submitted to Parliament on December 31,[41] and passed by the Congress of Deputies on April 21, 2005.

[45] With the final approval and enactment of the bill on July 2, 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to formally legalize same-sex marriages nationwide, after the Netherlands and Belgium.

[46] The first same-sex wedding took place eight days after the bill became law, and was performed in the city council chamber of the Madrid suburb of Tres Cantos between Carlos Baturín and Emilio Menéndez.

On November 7, 2006, the Spanish Parliament 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.

[52] 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).

[54] 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.

[2] The vote was held after Zapatero unexpectedly took the floor to speak in its support, saying "We are expanding the opportunities for happiness of our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends and our relatives.

[67] 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.

Sociologists believed this may be due to a significant increase of cultural liberalism in the realm of individual rights in recent years, where the Church traditionally had most influence, especially on family issues.

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.A public protest against the law was held on June 19, 2005.

[78] In a 2008 biography, Queen Sofía of Spain revealed that she preferred the term "civil union" to "marriage" for committed same-sex relationships.

[79] During the 2011 general election, People's Party leader Mariano Rajoy said he also preferred the term "civil union" to marriage for same-sex couples.

[9][10][11] In late 2017, the Socialist Workers' Party began calling for reforms to the Spanish Constitution to explicitly state the right of all couples, opposite-sex and same-sex, to marry.

[91] On May 30, 2007, the aforementioned judge of Dénia was condemned by the Disciplinary Committee of the General Council of the Judiciary to pay €305 for refusing to marry the couple and was also strictly warned against doing it again.

[123] In August 2006, Ourense City Councilor Pepe Araujo, whose party originally opposed the law, married his fiancé Nino Crespo.

[129] Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who had challenged the law approving same-sex marriage when he was opposition leader, attended the wedding celebrations as a guest.

[137] Archbishop of Barcelona Juan José Omella said on 23 December that the declaration would require "a change of mentality for Europe, because it is difficult for us to understand this way of asking God for things that was not done before.

According to InfoVaticana, the Archdiocese of Toledo "[had] ceded [the church] to the City Council of Talavera de la Reina due to its deplorable state, so that the municipal government could use it for cultural activities".

[140] 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.

[142] On July 25, 2007, the BBVA Foundation published their report Social portrait of Spanish people, which showed that 60% of Spain's population supported same-sex marriage.

[144] According to an Ifop poll conducted that same month, 71% of Spaniards supported allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

[146] A Pew Research Center poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 77% of Spaniards supported same-sex marriage, 13% were opposed and 10% did not know or refused to answer.

[150] A Pew Research Center poll conducted between February and May 2023 showed that 87% of Spaniards supported same-sex marriage, 10% were opposed and 3% did not know or refused to answer.