LGBTQ rights inSpain | |
|---|---|
 Location of Spain (dark green) – inEurope (light green & dark grey) | |
| Legal status | Legal from 1822 to 1928, from 1932 to 1954 and since 1979, age of consent equalized |
| Gender identity | Transgender persons allowed to change legal gender without prior sex reassignment surgery and sterilisation |
| Military | LGBT people allowed to serve |
| Discrimination protections | Sexual orientation and gender identity protections |
| Family rights | |
| Recognition of relationships | Same-sex marriage since 2005 |
| Adoption | Full adoption rights since 2005 |
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Spain rankamong the highest in the world, having undergone significant advancements within recent decades.[1][2] Amongancient Romans in Spain, sexual interaction between men was viewed as commonplace,[3] but a law against homosexuality was promulgated by Christian emperorsConstantius II andConstans, and Roman moral norms underwent significant changes leading up to the 4th century. Laws against sodomy were later established during the legislative period. They were first repealed from the Spanish Code in 1822, but changed again along with societal attitudes towards homosexuality during theSpanish Civil War andFrancisco Franco'sregime.[4]
Throughout the late-20th century, the rights of theLGBTQ community received more awareness and same-sex sexual activity became legal once again in 1979 with an equalage of consent to heterosexual intercourse. After recognisingunregistered cohabitation between same-sex couples countrywide andregistered partnerships in certain cities and communities since 1998 and 2003, Spain legalised bothsame-sex marriage andadoption rights for same-sex couples in 2005. Transgender individuals can change their legal gender without the need forsex reassignment surgery or sterilisation. Discrimination in employment regardingsexual orientation has been banned nationwide since 1995. A broader law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and provision of goods and services nationwide was passed in 2022. LGBT people are allowed to serve in the military andMSMs can donate blood since 2005.
Spain has been recognised as one of the mostculturally liberal and LGBT-friendly countries in the world andLGBT culture has had a significant role inSpanish literature,music,cinema and other forms of entertainment as well as social issues and politics. Public opinion on homosexuality is noted by pollsters as being overwhelmingly positive, with a study conducted by thePew Research Center in 2013 indicating that more than 88 percent of Spanish citizens accepted homosexuality, making it the most LGBT-friendly of the 39 countries polled. LGBT visibility has also increased in several layers of society such as theGuardia Civil, army, judicial, and clergy. However, in other areas such as sports, the LGBT community remains marginalised.[5] Spanish film directors such asPedro Almodóvar have increased awareness regarding LGBT tolerance in Spain among international audiences. In 2007,Madrid hosted the annualEuropride celebration and hostedWorldPride in 2017. The cities ofBarcelona andMadrid also have a reputation as two of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world.[6]Gran Canaria andTenerife they are also known worldwide as an LGBT tourist destination.[7][8]
The Romans brought, as with other aspects of their culture, their sexual morality to Spain.[3] Romans were open-minded about their relationships, and sexuality among men was commonplace. Among the Romans, bisexuality seems to have been perceived as the ideal. Eighteenth-century English historianEdward Gibbon wrote, of the first fifteen emperors, "Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct" by his cultural standards – the implication being that he was the only one not to takemen orboys as lovers. Gibbon based this on Suetonius' factual statement that "He had a great passion for women, but had no interest in men."[9] Suetonius and the other ancient authors actually used this against Claudius. They accused him of being dominated by these same women and wives, of beinguxorious, and of being awomaniser.
Marriages between men occurred during the early Roman Empire. These marriages were condemned by law in theTheodosian Code of Christian emperors Constantius and Constans on 16 December 342.[10]Martial, a first-century poet, born and educated in Bílbilis (nowCalatayud in Aragon, Spain), but spent most of his life in Rome, attests to same-sex marriages between men during the early Roman Empire.[11] He also characterised Roman life inepigrams and poems. In a fictitious first person, he talks about anal and vaginal penetration, and about receivingfellatio from both men and women. He also attests to adult men who played passive roles with other men. He describes, for example, the case of an older man who played the passive role and let a younger slave occupy the active role.[12]
The first recorded marriage between two men occurred during the reign of EmperorNero, who is reported to have married two other men on different occasions.[13] Roman EmperorElagabalus is also reported to have done the same. Emperors who were universally praised and lauded by the Romans, such asHadrian andTrajan, openly had male lovers, although it is not recorded whether or not they ever married their lovers. Hadrian's lover,Antinous, received deification upon his death and numerous statues exist of him today, more than any other non-imperial person.
Among the conservative upper Senatorial classes, status was more important than the person in any sexual relationship. Roman citizens could penetrate non-citizen males, plebeian (or low class) males, male slaves, boys,eunuchs, and male prostitutes just as easily as young female slaves, concubines, and female prostitutes. However, no upper class citizen would allow himself to be penetrated by another man, regardless of age or status. He would have to play the active role in any sexual relationship with a man.[14] There was a strict distinction between an active homosexual (who would have sex with men and women) and a passive homosexual (who was regarded as servile and effeminate). This morality was in fact used againstJulius Caesar, whose allegedly passive sexual interactions with the King ofBithynia,Nicomedes, were commented everywhere in Rome.[15] However, many people in the upper classes ignored such negative ideas about playing a passive role, as is proved by the actions of the Roman emperorsNero andElagabalus.
In contrast to the Greeks, evidence for homosexual relationships between men of the same age exists for the Romans. These sources are diverse and include such things as the Roman novelSatyricon, graffiti and paintings found atPompeii, as well as inscriptions left on tombs and papyri found in Egypt. Generally speaking, however, a kind ofpederasty (not unlike the one that can be found among the Greeks) was dominant in Rome. It is important to note, though, that even among heterosexual relationships, men tended to marry women much younger than themselves, usually in their early teens.
Lesbianism was also known,[3] in two forms. Feminine women would have sex with adolescent girls: a kind of female pederasty, and masculine women followed male pursuits, including fighting, hunting, and relationships with other women.
The first law against same-sex marriage was promulgated by the Christian emperorsConstantius II andConstans.[16] Nevertheless, the Christian emperors continued to collect taxes on male prostitutes until the reign ofAnastasius (491–581). In the year 390, Christian emperorsValentinian II,Theodosius I, andArcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be burned alive in front of the public.[17] Christian EmperorJustinian I (527–565) made homosexuals a scapegoat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences".[18]
As a result of this, Roman morality changed by the 4th century. For example,Ammianus Marcellinus harshly condemned the sexual behaviour of theTaifali, a tribe located between theCarpathian Mountains and theBlack Sea which practiced the Greek-stylepederasty.[19] In 342, emperors Constans and Constantius II introduced a law to punish passive homosexuality (possibly by castration), to which later in 390 Theodosius I would add death by fire to all passive homosexuals that worked inbrothels. In 438, this law was expanded to include all passive homosexuals, in 533 Justinian punished any homosexual act with castration and death by fire, and in 559 this law became even more strict.[20]
Three reasons have been given for this change of attitude.Procopius, historian at Justinian's court, considered that behind the laws were political motivations, as they allowed Justinian to destroy his enemies and confiscate their properties, and were hardly efficient stopping homosexuality between ordinary citizens.[19] The second reason, and perhaps the more important one, was the rising influence of Christianity in the Roman society, including the Christian paradigm about sex serving solely for reproduction purposes.[20] Colin Spencer, in his bookHomosexuality: A History, suggests the possibility that a certain sense of self-preservation in the Roman society after suffering some epidemic such as the Black fever increased the reproductive pressure in individuals. This phenomenon would be combined with the rising influence ofStoicism in the Empire.[19]
Until the year 313, there was no common doctrine about homosexuality in Christianity,[19] but it is the mistaken belief thatPaul had already condemned it ascontra natura, though he had no exegetical reason for doing so:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.Bible King James. Romans 1:27.
Eventually, theChurch Fathers created a literarycorpus in which homosexuality and sex were condemned most energetically, fighting against a common practice in that epoch's society.[21] On the other hand, homosexuality was identified with heresy, not only because of the pagan traditions, but also due to the rites of somegnostic sects orManichaeism, which, according toAugustine of Hippo, practised homosexual rites.[19]
TheGermanic peoples had little tolerance for homosexuals, whom they considered on the same level as "imbeciles" and slaves, and glorified the warrior camaraderie between men. However, there are reports in Scandinavian countries of feminine and transvestite pastors, and the Nordic gods, theÆsir, includingThor andOdin, obtained arcane recognitiondrinking semen.[19]
In theEarly Middle Ages, attitudes toward homosexuality remained constant. There are known cases of homosexual behaviour which did not receive punishment, even if they were not accepted. For example, KingClovis I on his baptism day confessed to having relationships with other men; orAlcuin, an Anglo-Saxon poet whose verses and letters contain homoerotism.[19]
One of the first legal corpus that considered male homosexuality a crime in Europe was theLiber Iudiciorum (orLex Visigothorum).[22] The Visigoth law included in that code (L. 3,5,6) punishedsodomy withbanishment andcastration. Within the term "castration" were included allsexual crimes consideredunnatural, such as male homosexuality,anal sex (heterosexual and homosexual) andzoophilia. Lesbianism was considered sodomy only if it included phallic aids.[22]
It was KingChindasuinth (642–653) who dictated that the punishment for homosexuality should be castration. Such a harsh measure was unheard of in Visigoth laws, except for the cases of Jews practisingcircumcision. After being castrated, the culprit was given to the care of the local bishop, who would then banish him. If he was married, the marriage wasdeclared void, thedowry was returned to the woman and any possessions distributed among his heirs.[23]
The Muslims who invaded and successfully conquered the peninsula in the early 8th century had a noticeably more open attitude to homosexuality than their Visigothic predecessors. In the bookMedieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, Daniel Eisenberg describes homosexuality as "a key symbolic issue throughout the Middle Ages in Iberia", stating that in al-Andalus, homosexual pleasures were indulged in by the intellectual and political elite. There is significant evidence for this. Rulers, such asAbd-ar-Rahman III,Al-Hakam II,Hisham II, andAl Mu'tamid ibn Abbad, openly kept male harems, to the point that, to ensure an offspring, a girl had to be disguised as a boy to seduce Al-Hakam II.[24] It was said that male prostitutes charged higher fees and had a higher class of clientele than did their female counterparts. Evidence can also be found in the repeated criticisms of Christians and especially the abundant poetry of homosexual nature. References to both pederasty and love between adult males have been found. Although homosexual practices were never officially condoned, prohibitions against them were rarely enforced, and usually there was not even a pretense of doing so. Sexual activity between men was not seen as a form of identity. Very little is known about lesbian sexual activity during this period.
By 1492, the last Islamic kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, theEmirate of Granada, was invaded and conquered by theCrown of Castile and theCrown of Aragon. This marked the Christian unification of the Iberian peninsula and the return of Catholic morality. By the early sixteenth century, royal codes decreed death by burning forsodomy and was punished by civil authorities. It fell under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition only inthe territories of Aragon, when, in 1524,Clement VII, in a papal brief, granted jurisdiction over sodomy to the Inquisition of Aragon, whether or not it was related toheresy. In Castile, cases of sodomy were not adjudicated, unless related toheresy. The tribunal ofZaragoza distinguished itself for its severity in judging these offences: between 1571 and 1579 more than 100 men accused ofsodomy were prosecuted and at least 36 were executed; in total, between 1570 and 1630 there were 534 trials and 102 executions.[25] This does not include, however, those normally executed by the secular authorities.
In 1812, Barcelona wasannexed into theFirst French Empire and incorporated into theFirst French Empire as part of the departmentMontserrat (laterBouches-de-l'Èbre–Montserrat), where it remained until it was returned to Spain in 1814. During that time same-sex sexual intercourse was legal in Barcelona.[26][27]
In 1822, theKingdom of Spain's first penal code was adopted and same-sex sexual intercourse was legalised. In 1928, under the dictatorship ofMiguel Primo de Rivera, the offense of "habitual homosexual acts" was recriminalised in Spain.[28]
In 1932, same-sex sexual intercourse was again legalised inSpain.[28]
Between 1936 and 1939, right-wing, Catholic forces led byGeneral Francisco Franco took over Spain, and Franco was dictator of the country until his death in 1975. Legal reforms in 1944 and 1963 punished same-sex sexual intercourse as "scandalous public behavior". In 1954, vagrancy laws were modified to declare that homosexuals are "a danger", equating homosexuality withproxenetism (procuring). The text of the law declared that the measures "are not proper punishments, but mere security measures, set with a doubly preventive end, with the purpose of collective guarantee and the aspiration of correcting those subjects fallen to the lowest levels of morality. This law is not intended to punish, but to correct and reform". However, the way the law was applied was clearly punitive and arbitrary: police would often use the vagrancy laws against suspected political dissenters, using homosexuality (actual or perceived) as a way to go around the judicial guarantees.[29][30]
However, in other cases, the harassment of gay, bisexual and transgender people was clearly directed at their sexual mores, and homosexuals (mostly men) were sent to special prisons calledgalerías de invertidos ("galleries of inverts"). Thousands of homosexual men and women were jailed, put in camps, or locked up in mental institutions underFranco's dictatorship, which lasted for 36 years until his death in 1975.[31] The year Franco died, his regime began to give way to the current constitutional democracy, but in the early 1970s gay prisoners were overlooked by political activism in favour of more "traditional" political dissenters. Some gay activists deplored the fact that reparations were not made until 2008.[32]
However, in the 1960s, a clandestine gay scene began to emerge inBarcelona, and in thecountercultural centers ofIbiza andSitges (a town in the province of Barcelona,Catalonia, that remains a highly popular gay tourist destination). In the late 1960s and the 1970s, a body of gay literature emerged inCatalan.[33] Attitudes in greater Spain began to change with the return to democracy after Franco's death through a cultural movement known asLa Movida Madrileña. This movement, along with growth of thegay rights movement in the rest of Europe and the Western world, was a large factor in making Spain today one of Europe's most socially tolerant places.
In 1970, Spanish law provided for a three-year prison sentence for those accused of same-sex sexual intercourse.[34] That same year, theSpanish Movement for Homosexual Liberation(Movimiento Español de Liberación Homosexual) was founded.
Same-sex sexual intercourse was again legalised in Spain in 1979, and this remains its legal status today.[36]
In December 2001, the Spanish Parliament pledged to wipe clean the criminal records of thousands of gay and bisexual men and women who were jailed during Franco's regime. The decision meant that sentences for homosexuality and bisexuality were taken off police files.[37] Further reparations were made in 2008.[32]
Same-sex sexual acts were technically lawful in Spain from 1822 to 1954, with the exception of the offence of "unusual or outrageous indecent acts with same-sex persons" between the years 1928 and 1932. However, some homosexuals were arrested under theLey de Vagos y Maleantes ("Vagrants and Common Delinquents Law"). Homosexual acts were made unlawful duringFrancisco Franco's time in power, first by an amendment to the aforementioned law in 1954, and later by theLey de Peligrosidad y Rehabilitación Social ("Law on Danger and Social Rehabilitation") in 1970. In 1979, theAdolfo Suárez Government reversed the prohibition of homosexual acts.
A new penal code was introduced in Spain in 1995 which specified anage of consent of 12 for all sexual acts, but this was raised to 13 in 1999 and to 16 in 2015.[38][39][40]
In 1994, theLey de Arrendamientos Urbanos was passed, giving same-sex couples some recognition rights.[41] Registries for same-sex couples were created in all of Spain's 17 autonomous communities:Catalonia (1998),Aragon (1999),Navarre (2000),Castile-La Mancha (2000),Valencia (2001), theBalearic Islands (2001),Madrid (2001),Asturias (2002),Andalusia (2002),Castile and León (2002),Extremadura (2003), theBasque Country (2003), theCanary Islands (2003),Cantabria (2005),Galicia (2008),La Rioja (2010) andMurcia (2018),[42][43] and in both autonomous cities;Ceuta (1998) andMelilla (2008).[44] These registries grant unmarried couples some benefits, but the effect is mainly symbolic.
Same-sex marriage and adoption were legalised by theCortes Generales under the administration ofSocialist Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2005, makingSpain the third country in the world to do so.[45][46]
Soon after the same-sex marriage bill became law, a member of the Guardia Civil, a military-police force, married his lifelong partner, prompting the organisation to allow same-sex partners to cohabitate in the barracks, the first police force in Europe to accommodate a same-sex partner in a military installation.[47][48]
Adoption by same-sex couples has been legal nationwide in Spain since July 2005. Some ofSpain's autonomous communities had already legalised such adoptions beforehand, notablyNavarre in 2000, theBasque Country in 2003,Aragon in 2004,Catalonia in 2005 andCantabria in 2005.[49][50] Furthermore, inAsturias, Andalusia andExtremadura, same-sex couples could jointly begin procedures to temporarily or permanently take children in care.
Since 2015, married lesbian couples can register both their names on their child(ren)'s certificates. This does not apply to cohabiting couples or couples in de facto unions, where the non-biological mother must normally go through an adoption process to be legally recognized as the child's mother.[51][52][53][54]
Lesbian couples and single women may accessin vitro fertilisation (IVF) and assisted reproductive treatments. Prior to 2019, this was mostly in the private sector, where such treatments were much more expensive (around 7,500euros for IVF). In 2018, following reports that Spain had one of the lowest birth rates in Europe (with reportedly more deaths than births in 2017), measures extending free reproductive treatments for lesbians and single women to public hospitals were announced. The measures took effect in January 2019.[55]Surrogacy is prohibited in Spain regardless of sexual orientation, though surrogacy arrangements undertaken overseas are usually recognized.[56]
In November 2021, anexecutive order was signed to allow free IVF treatment for single women and women in same-sex relationships throughout Spain. The right of single women and women in same-sex relationships to access IVF was enshrined in law as part of the "Trans Law" passed by congress on 16 February 2023.[57]
Spanish law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, HIV status, and "any other personal or social condition or circumstance.” in employment and provision of goods and services. A comprehensive anti-discrimination bill, called the Zerolo Law, was passed by theCortes Generales on 30 June 2022.[58]
Prior to the Zerolo law, employment discrimination on the basis ofsexual orientation had been illegal in the country since 1995 but employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity was not banned nationwide. The first autonomous community to ban such discrimination wasNavarre in 2009.[59] TheBasque Country followed suit in 2012,[60]Andalusia,[61] theCanary Islands,[62]Catalonia,[63] andGalicia in 2014,[64]Extremadura in 2015,[65][66][67][68]Murcia,[69][70] and theBalearic Islands in 2016,[71]Valencia in April 2017,[72] andAragon in January 2019.,[73]Cantabria[74] in November 2020La Rioja[75] in February 2022 andCastilla-La Mancha[76] in May 2022.
From April 27, 2016, to December 21, 2023, theCommunity of Madrid prohibited discrimination based on gender identity in education, employment, family and youth services, healthcare, public administration, and social services.[77] From August 11, 2016, to December 21, 2023, the Community of Madrid prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in education, employment, family rights, healthcare, law enforcement and justice, media and advertising, public services, social services, and sports and culture.[78]
On 22 December 2023, the Community of Madrid amended its regional LGBT laws by removing penalties for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, becoming the first jurisdiction in Europe to do so.[79] Although the formal prohibition of discrimination remains in the text of the law, the removal of enforcement mechanisms renders it largely symbolic at the regional level. As a result, individuals who experience employment discrimination on these grounds in Madrid must now rely exclusively on national legislation, such as the Workers’ Statute and theLey 15/2022, de igualdad de trato y no discriminación (Zerolo Law), to pursue remedies.[80]
Article 4(2) of theWorkers' Statute (Spanish:Estatuto de los trabajadores)[a] reads as follows:[81]
In labour relations, workers have the right: ... not to be directly or indirectly discriminated in employment, or, once employed, discriminated by reason of sex, civil status, age within the limits set forth by this Law, racial or ethnic origin, social status, religion or convictions, political ideas, sexual orientation, membership or non-membership in a union, or for reasons of language within the Spanish State.
Discrimination in the provisions of goods and services based on sexual orientation and gender identity was not banned nationwide either. The aforementioned autonomous communities all ban such discrimination within their anti-discrimination laws.[66] Discrimination in health services and education based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been banned in Spain since 2011 and 2013, respectively.[66]
Ten autonomous communities also ban discrimination based on sex characteristics, thereby protectingintersex people from discrimination. These autonomous communities are Galicia (2014),[64] Catalonia (2014),[63] Extremadura (2015),[65] the Balearic Islands (2016),[71] Madrid (2016),[82] Murcia (2016),[69] Valencia (2017),[72] Navarre (2017),[83] Andalusia (2018),[84] and Aragon (2019).[73]
Hate speech on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity has been banned since 1995.[66] Additionally, under the country'shate crime law, crimes motivated by the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity, amongst other categories, result in additional legal penalties.
TheSecretary of State for Security reported that instances of violence against LGBT people decreased 4% in 2018.[85] This contrasted with figures from other sources. TheObservatorio Madrileño reported a 7% increase in anti-LGBT violence in Madrid,[86] while the Observatory Against Homophobia of Catalonia (Observatori contra l'Homofòbia) reported a 30% increase in the first few months of 2019.[87]
Since January 2019, teachers and students in Madrid are obliged to report cases of bullying, including against LGBT students.[88]
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people may serve openly in theSpanish Armed Forces.[89]
In November 2006, the Zapatero Government passed a law that allowstransgender people to register under their preferred sex in public documents such as birth certificates, identity cards and passports without undergoing priorsurgical change. However a professional diagnosis is still required.[90] The law came into effect on 17 March 2007.[91] In July 2019, theConstitutional Court of Spain declared that prohibiting transgender minors from accessing legal gender changes is unconstitutional. The court ruled that transgender minors who are "mature enough" may register their new sex on their identity cards, and struck down the article of the 2007 legislation that limited this possibility only to those over 18.[92][93] The first minor to change his legal gender did so in December 2019.[94]
A new bill was approved in June 2022 by the Spanish government that would allow trans people to "self-identify" their gender on national birth certificates and grant permission for people above 16 to change their gender without restrictions and without needing to undergo psychological and medical evaluations, and for people between 12 and 16 under certain conditions.[note 1][95][96][97] The bill was promoted by the left-wingUnidas Podemos party,[95] but its approval was initially delayed because theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party opposed, questioning the bill's treatment of transgender teenagers and expressing concerns that it may cause gender inequality. The dispute was resolved whenCarmen Calvo, the then Vice President of the government, left the Executive.[97][95] Congress gave final approval to the bill on 16 February 2023 by a vote of 191–60 with 91 abstentions.[98][99]
Many of Spain's autonomous communities have their own laws which allow trans people to change their legal gender identity. Catalonia (since 2014), Andalucía (since 2014), Valencia (since 2014), Extremadura (since 2015), Balearic Islands (since 2016), Madrid (2016–2023), Murcia (since 2016), Navarre (since 2017), Aragón (since 2018), Basque Country (since 2019), Cantabria (since 2020), Canary Islands (since 2021), La Rioja (since 2022), and Castilla-La Mancha (since 2022) allow trans people to self-declare their gender identity. In Galicia, a gender change requires a medical diagnosis.[100]
In 2023, a new right-wing government in Madrid repealed several legal protections and recognitions for trans people. Trans people may now only have their legal gender updated on ID after it has been recognized on national documents.[101]
Intersex infants in Spain may not be given unnecessary medical interventions to have their sex characteristics altered after the passage of the Trans Law on 16 February 2023.[102] Previous to that, it had been banned in several autonomous communities:Andalusia,[84]Aragon,[73] theBalearic Islands,[71]Extremadura,[65]Madrid,[82]Murcia,[69]Navarre,[83] andValencia.[72][103] Human rights groups consider these surgeries unnecessary and, they argue, should only be performed if the applicant consents to the operation (i.e. has reached the age of 18). In April 2019, the Catalan Department of Labor, Social Affairs and Families announced that official documents in Catalonia would include the option "non-binary" alongside male and female.[104]
Gay and bisexual men are allowed to donate blood in Spain. For anyone regardless of sexual orientation, the deferral period is six months following the start of a new sexual partnership.[105]
Congress passed a nationwide ban on conversion therapy as part of the "Trans Law" on 16 February 2023.[57] Previously, conversion therapy had been banned or restricted in several autonomous communities.
The autonomouscommunity of Madrid approved aconversion therapy ban in July 2016.[82] The ban went into effect on 1 January 2017, and applies to medical, psychiatric, psychological and religious groups. In August 2016, an LGBT advocacy group brought charges under the new law against a Madrid woman who offered conversion therapy.[106] In September 2019, the woman was fined 20,000euros.[107] In December 2023, a newly elected right-wing government repealed Madrid's conversion therapy ban in so far as it applies to trans people, and removed any penalties for conversion therapy.[108]
Murcia approved a conversion therapy ban in May 2016, which came into effect on 1 June 2016. Unlike the other bans, the Murcia ban only applies tohealth professionals.[69] Navarre, the Balearic Islands, and Catalonia have also passed similarly limited conversion therapy bans.[108]
Valencia banned the use of conversion therapies in April 2017.[72]Andalusia followed suit in December 2017, with the law coming into force on 4 February 2018.[84] In January 2019,Aragon made it an offense to promote and/or perform conversion therapy.[73] The autonomous communities of Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha and La Rioja also have conversion therapy bans.[108]
In April 2019, theGovernment of the Community of Madrid announced it was investigating theRoman Catholic Diocese of Alcalá de Henares for violating conversion therapy laws. This followed reports that a journalist named Ángel Villascusa posed as a gay man and attended a counselling service provided by the diocese. Villascusa alleged the bishop was running illegal conversion therapy sessions. The bishop was defended by theCatholic Church in Spain.[109][110]Minister of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social WelfareMaría Luisa Carcedo called for a nationwide ban onconversion therapy. She said, "they [the Church] are breaking the law therefore, in the first instance, these courses have to be completely abolished. I thought that, in Spain, accepting the various sexual orientations was assumed in all areas, but unfortunately we see that there are still pockets where people are told what their sexual orientation should be".[111][112]
The first gay organisation in Spain was the Spanish Homosexual Liberation Movement (MELH,Movimiento Español de Liberación Homosexual,Moviment Espanyol d'Alliberament Homosexual), which was founded in 1970 inBarcelona. The group also established centers inMadrid andBilbao. It disbanded in 1973 because of police pressure, but following Franco's death, several members of the group formed theFront d'Alliberament Gai de Catalunya (FAGC) in 1975 to continue campaigning for LGBT rights. Several more groups were established, including theEuskal Herriko Gay-Les Askapen Mugimendua in the Basque Country, theFrente Homosexual de Acción Revolucionaria in Madrid, and theCoordinadora de Frentes de Liberación Homosexual de Estado Español (COFLHEE), all three in 1977. On 28 June 1977, the FAGC organised thefirst gay demonstration in Spain in the city of Barcelona with about 4,000 to 5,000 participants. Police repressed the event, with several arrests and injuries. Exactly one year later, theFrente de Liberación Homosexual de Castilla held a demonstration in Madrid with about 10,000 people. Disagreement within these groups caused many to shut down; many members advocated a more "radical" movement with public demonstrations and many felt the organizations had failed to properly address or campaign for the rights of lesbians and bisexuals. LGBT groups saw an important landmark moment in 1979 with the decriminalisation of homosexuality.[113]
During the 1980s, several LGBT groups and magazines were launched in various cities. TheFederación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales (FELGTB), today Spain's largest LGBT organization, was founded in 1992 from members of the then-former COFLHEE. The groups campaign for legal rights for same-sex couples and LGBT people, societal acceptance, operate counseling centers about topics such as coming out, sex, relationships or health issues, and organize various events and festivals. Severalgay villages exist in Spain, includingChueca in Madrid, "Gaixample" in Barcelona,Ibiza,Maspalomas inGran Canaria, andSitges.
Nowadays, numerouspride parades and other LGBT festivals are held throughout Spain, includingMadrid Pride, whose 2019 edition had 400,000 participants according to police,[114] Barcelona, Gran Canaria,Seville, Bilbao,A Coruña,Valencia,Zaragoza,Murcia,Palma de Mallorca,Cartagena,Valladolid,Benidorm, Ibiza, Sitges, Maspalomas,Torremolinos, and many more.[115]
In December 2024, Spain's rulingSpanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) announced its intention to introduce restrictions on the participation of transgender women in female sports during its 40th Federal Congress in Seville. The proposal aimed to limit participation in women's sports to individuals assigned female at birth, citing concerns over fairness in competition. The announcement sparked significant backlash from LGBTQ+ rights organizations, PSOE coalition partners, and activist groups, who viewed the measure as discriminatory and a reversal of the party's prior commitments to gender self-determination. The party also proposed the removal of the letter "Q"—representing "queer"—from official usage in references to the LGBTQ+ community, arguing that the term lacked legal definition and clarity.[116]
As of May 2025, no legislation has been passed to enact the proposed sports restrictions or terminology changes, and the government has not introduced a formal bill to Spain's parliament.
Homosexuality andbisexuality today are greatly accepted all around the country and intensely in larger and medium cities. That being said, a certain level of discrimination can still be encountered in small villages and among some parts of society.AEurobarometer survey published December 2006 showed that 66 percent of Spanish people surveyed supported same-sex marriage and 43 percent supported same-sex couples' right to adopt (EU-wide averages were 44 percent and 33 percent, respectively).[117]
On 4 March 2013, Interior MinisterJorge Fernández Díaz said that due to same-sex marriages the survival of the human species is not guaranteed.[118] He also stated that same-sex marriages should not have the same protection under the law as opposite-sex ones,[118] eight years after same-sex marriage was legalized.[119]
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Among the countries studied by thePew Research Center in 2013, Spain was rated first in acceptance of homosexuality, with 88% of Spaniards believing that homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared to 11% who disagreed.[120]
In May 2015,PlanetRomeo, an LGBT social network, published its first Gay Happiness Index (GHI). Gay men from over 120 countries were asked about how they feel about society's view on homosexuality, how do they experience the way they are treated by other people and how satisfied are they with their lives. Spain was ranked 13th with a GHI score of 68.[121]
BuzzFeed conducted a poll in December 2016 across several countries on the acceptance of transgender individuals. Spain ranked the most accepting in most categories, with 87% of those polled believing transgender people should be protected from discrimination, and only 8% believing there is something mentally or physically wrong with them. In addition, 77% believed transgender people should be allowed to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity rather than being forced to use the one of their birth-assigned gender, with over 50% strongly agreeing with this.[122]
The 2015Eurobarometer found that 84% ofSpaniards thought that same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, 10% were against.[123] The 2019 Eurobarometer showed that 91% of Spaniards believed gay and bisexual people should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual people, and 86% supported same-sex marriage.[124]
The 2023 Eurobarometer found that 88% of Spaniards thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, and 89% agreed that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex".[125]
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At the beginning of the 20th century, Spanish authors, likeJacinto Benavente,Pedro de Répide and Antonio de Hoyos y Vinent, had to choose between ignoring the subject of homosexuality or representing it negatively. The only authors publishing literature with LGBT content were foreigners:Augusto d'Halmar from Chile publishedPasión y muerte del cura Deusto, Alfonso Hernández Catá fromCuba publishedEl ángel de Sodoma, andAlberto Nin Frías fromUruguay publishedLa novela del renacimiento y otros relatos,La fuente envenenada,Marcos, amador de la belleza,Alexis o el significado del temperamento Urano and, in 1933,Homosexualismo creador, the first essay representing homosexuality in a positive light.[126]
Others, such as the authors of theGeneration of '27, took refuge in poetry. The gay and bisexual poets of this literary movement were amongst the most influential inSpanish literature:Federico García Lorca,Emilio Prados,Luis Cernuda,Vicente Aleixandre andManuel Altolaguirre. These poets were highly influenced by the great gay authors of the rest of Europe, such asOscar Wilde,André Gide, mainly hisCorydon, andMarcel Proust. In 1930,Emilio García Gómez also published hisPoemas arabigoandaluces, which included the pederastic poets ofAl-Andalus.[126] Around the mid-1930s, there was a slight liberalisation which ended with the beginning of theSpanish Civil War. After the Civil War, with García Lorca assassinated and the majority of gay and bisexual poets in exile, gay culture retired anew to the cryptic poetry ofVicente Aleixandre, who never admitted his homosexuality publicly. Other gay poets of this period areFrancisco Brines,Leopoldo María Panero, Juan Gil-Albert andJaime Gil de Biedma and, inCórdoba, Vicente Núñez,Pablo García Baena and Juan Bernier, belonging to theCántico group.[126]
Authors that appear after theSpanish Transition includeJuan Goytisolo, Luis Antonio de Villena,Antonio Gala,Terenci Moix,Álvaro Pombo,Vicente Molina Foix,[127] Antonio Roig, Biel Mesquida, Leopoldo Alas, Vicente García Cervera, Carlos Sanrune, Jaume Cela, Eduardo Mendicutti, Miguel Martín, Lluis Fernández, Víctor Monserrat,Alberto Cardín, Mariano García Torres,Agustín Gómez-Arcos,[126]Óscar Esquivias,[128] Luisgé Martín and Iñaki Echarte.
No lesbian authors in Spain publicly acknowledged their homosexuality until the 1990s.Gloria Fuertes never wanted her sexual orientation to be public. The first lesbian author to be openly gay was Andrea Luca. Other authors who have treated love between women in their books includeAna María Moix, Ana Rosetti,Esther Tusquets, Carmen Riera,Elena Fortún,Isabel Franc andLucía Etxebarría, whose novelBeatriz y los cuerpos celestes won theNadal Prize in 1998.[126]
Early representation of homosexuality in Spanish cinema was difficult due to censorship by the Franco regime. The first movie that shows any kind of homosexuality, very discreetly, wasDiferente, a musical from 1961, directed by Luis María Delgado. Up to 1977, if homosexuals appeared at all, it was to ridicule them as the "funny effeminate faggot".[129]
During theSpanish transition to democracy, the first films appeared where homosexuality was not portrayed in a negative way. Examples areLa Muerte de Mikel fromImanol Uribe andOcaña, retrat intermitent fromVentura Pons. In these films, authors experiment with different visions of gay men: thetransvestite inUn hombre llamado Flor de Otoño (1978), the manly and attractive gay man inLos placeres ocultos (1976) fromEloy de la Iglesia, the warring "queen" inGay Club (1980), etc. Homosexuality is the center of the plot, and homosexuals are shown as vulnerable, in inner turmoil and in dispute with society.[129]
Beginning in 1985, homosexuality loses primacy on the plot, in spite of still being fundamental. This trend begins withLa ley del deseo (1987) fromPedro Almodóvar and continues with films likeTras el cristal (1986) fromAgustí Villaronga,Las cosas del querer (1989) andLas cosas del querer 2 (1995) fromJaime Chávarri.[129] Successful films includePerdona bonita, pero Lucas me quería a mí (1997),Segunda piel (1999),Km. 0 (2000),Plata quemada (2000),Los novios búlgaros (2003) andCachorro (2004).
Undoubtedly, Spain's best-known LGBT person isPedro Almodóvar. Almodóvar has often intertwined LGBT themes in his plots, and his films have turned him into one of the most renowned Spanish movie directors. Apart from Almodóvar,Ventura Pons andEloy de la Iglesia are two film directors who have worked on more LGBT themes in their movies.[129] In September 2004, movie directorAlejandro Amenábar publicly announced his homosexuality.
There have not been as many Spanish films with a lesbian plot. The most renown may be the comedyA mi madre le gustan las mujeres (2002), and the romantic dramaRoom in Rome (Habitación en Roma) (2010).
The most-important LGBT film festivals areLesGaiCineMad in Madrid and theFestival internacional de cinema gai i lèsbic de Barcelona (FICGLB). There are also many other smaller festivals and shows, includingFestival del Mar in theBalearic Islands,Festival del Sol in theCanary Islands,Zinegoak inBilbao,LesGaiFestiVal inValencia orZinentiendo inZaragoza.[130]
In 2018,Ángela Ponce became the first transgender woman to win theMiss Universe Spain title,[131] and was the first transgender woman to contest forMiss Universe 2018.[132]
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During Franco's dictatorship, musicians seldom made any reference to homosexuality in their songs or in public speeches. An exception was thecopla singer Miguel de Molina, openly homosexual and against Franco. De Molina fled toArgentina after being brutally tortured and his shows prohibited.[133] Another exception was Bambino, whose homosexuality was known inflamenco circles. Some songs fromRaphael, as "Qué sabe nadie" ("What does anyone know") or "Digan lo que digan" ("Whatever they say"), have frequently been interpreted in a gay light.[134]
In 1974, thefolk rock band Cánovas, Rodrigo, Adolfo y Guzmán talked about a lesbian relationship in the song "María y Amaranta" ("María and Amaranta"), that surprisingly was not censored. During thetransition to democracy, the duo Vainica Doble sung about the fight of a gay man against the prejudices of his own family in the song "El rey de la casa" ("The king of the house").
Singer-songwriterVíctor Manuel has included LGBT subjects in several of his songs. In 1980, he released "Quién puso más" ("Who put more?"), a true love story between two men that ends after 30 years. He later mentioned transsexuality in his song "Como los monos de Gibraltar" ("As the monkeys in Gibraltar"), feminine homosexuality in "Laura ya no vive aquí" ("Laura doesn't live here any more") and bisexuality in "No me llames loca" (Don't call me fool/queen).
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It was not until theLa Movida Madrileña that homosexuality became visible in Spanish music. The duoPedro Almodóvar andFabio McNamara usually dressed as women during their concerts, where they sang provocative lyrics.Tino Casal never hid his homosexuality and became an icon for many gay people. Nevertheless, it would be the trioAlaska,Nacho Canut yCarlos Berlanga who would be identified from the beginning with the LGBT movement due to their constant references to homosexuality in their lyrics and their concerts. During their time asDinarama, they recorded the song "¿A Quién le Importa?" ("Who cares?"), which became agay anthem in Spain. After the Movida, several artists continued to make music with homosexual themes, such as Fabio McNamara, Carlos Berlanga in "Vacaciones" ("Holiday"), or Luis Miguélez, ex-guitarist of Dinarama and later member of Glamour to Kill.
At the end of the 1980s,Mecano made a hit with the song "Mujer contra mujer" ("Woman against woman"), clearly defending the love of two women. There were French ("Une femme avec une femme") and Italian ("Per Lei Contro Di Lei") versions. The song was a huge hit in France in 1990 where it reached No. 1 in charts during seven weeks. The song was also a hit in Latin America and is one of the most remembered of the group. They later composed the song "Stereosexual" that talked about bisexuality.[135] In 1988, Tam Tam Go!, in the album "Spanish shuffle", included the song "Manuel Raquel", the only song in Spanish in the album, which told the story of a transsexual.Tino Casal included in his 1989 albumHisteria the very explicit song "Que digan misa".
At the beginning of the 1990s, new singer-songwriters also took up the subject, especiallyInma Serrano, Javier Álvarez, and Andrés Lewin, but alsoPedro Guerra in his song "Otra forma de sentir" ("Another way of feeling") orTontxu in "¿Entiendes?" ("Do you understand?"). Other artists with diverse styles also used the theme, as "El cielo no entiende" ("Heaven doesn't understand") byOBK, "Entender el amor" ("Understand love") byMónica Naranjo, "El día de año nuevo" ("New Year's Day") byAmaral, "Eva y María" by Materia Prima, "Sacrifícate" by Amistades Peligrosas, "La revolución sexual" by La casa azul, "Ángeles" by Merche, "Como una flor" by Malú, "Da igual" by Taxi, "El que quiera entender que entienda" byMägo de Oz, etc.[135]
Indie pop has also treated homosexuality from different points of view, as the band Ellos in the song "Diferentes" ("Different"), orL Kan in "Gayhetera" (Gayhereto). The duoAstrud has been related togay culture. The leather subculture has the band Gore Gore Gays with themes that range from LGBT demands to explicit sex.[135][136] Within the indie pop universe, many other bands produce songs almost exclusively for a gay public, especially gay-friendly or with a clear gay content (Nancys Rubias, Lorena C, Spunky, La Terremoto de Alcorcón, Putilatex, Putirecords, Borrachas provincianas, Vanity Bear, Modelé Fatale, Dos Hombres Solos, Postura 69, etc.) and some drag queens have a successful career in music, such asLa Prohibida, Nacha la Macha, or La Otxoa.
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Several openly gay politicians have served in public office in Spain. One of the most prominent gay politicians isJerónimo Saavedra, who served asPresident of the Canary Islands twice from 1982 to 1987 and again from 1991 to 1993. Saavedra came out as gay in 2000. He served as a member of theSenate until 2004, and was Mayor ofLas Palmas from 2007 to 2011.[137] Another prominent gay politician and activist wasPedro Zerolo, who served on theCity Council of Madrid until his death in June 2015. Zerolo was known for his LGBT activism and was one of the biggest promoters of the law extending the right to marriage to same-sex couples, leading many to label him a gay icon.
Others includeJavier Maroto, formerly serving as mayor of the Basque capital ofVitoria-Gasteiz from 2011 to 2015 and currently serving as senator. Maroto married his fiancé José Manuel Rodríguez in September 2015. The marriage ceremony was attended by Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy.[138]Máximo Huerta,Ángeles Álvarez andFernando Grande-Marlaska are other gay politicians who serve/have served in theCortes Generales.[139] Grande-Marlaska has served asMinister of the Interior since June 2018.
Ada Colau, electedMayor of Barcelona in 2015, revealed her bisexuality in December 2017.[140] Other Catalan gay politicians includeAntoni Comín,Santi Vila andMiquel Iceta.
Carla Antonelli, Víctor Casco,Iñigo Lamarca, Fran Ferri, Jesús Vázquez Abad, Iñaki Oyarzábal,Empar Pineda andLuis Alegre Zahonero are other openly LGBT politicians, variously serving as mayors or members of regional legislatures.[141] In 2007,Manuela Trasobares won a seat as a councillor in the small Valencian town ofGeldo, becoming the first openly transgender Spaniard to hold public office.[142]
Sports is traditionally a difficult area for LGBT visibility. Recently though, there have been professional sportswomen and sportsmen who have come out. These includeMapi León andAna Romero in football,Víctor Gutiérrez in waterpolo,Carlos Peralta in swimming,Marta Mangué in handball,Javier Raya in figure skating andMiriam Blasco in judo.
In February 2019, the far-right partyVox vetoed a motion calling for an official stance against homophobia in sports. The motion, supported by every other political party, required unanimity to be adopted.[143]
| Right | Status |
|---|---|
| Same-sex sexual activity legal |  (Since 1979) |
| Equalage of consent (16) | (Since 1995) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in employment | (Since 1995) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services | (Since 2022) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) | (Since 1995) |
| Anti-discrimination laws concerning gender identity | (Since 2022) |
| Same-sex marriage | (Since 2005) |
| Recognition of same-sex couples (e.g. unregistered cohabitation, life partnership) | (Since 1998 in some autonomous communities, since 2018 nationwide) |
| Stepchild adoption by same-sex couples | (Since 2000 in some autonomous communities, since 2005 nationwide) |
| Joint adoption by same-sex couples | (Since 2000 in some autonomous communities, since 2005 nationwide) |
| Automatic parentage presumption onbirth certificates for children of same-sex couples | (Since 2015) |
| LGBT people allowed to serve openly in the military | |
| Right to change legal gender on documents or forms by way ofself-determination and without SRS or sterilization | (Since 2023, for those over 16-years-old)[144] |
| Automatic parental leave for both spouses after birth | (Since 2006) |
| Access toIVF treatment for everyone | (Since 2021 nationwide byexecutive order, since 2023 by law)[145] |
| Conversion therapy banned by law nationwide | (Since 2023) |
| Intersex minors protected from invasive surgical procedures by law nationwide | (Since 2023) |
| Non-binary gender recognition | / Some cases have made their way to a jury and the case won, so now some people have an X instead of an F (femenino) or an M (masculino) as their sex in their personal ID (SpanishDNI) |
| MSMs allowed to donate blood | (Since 2005) |
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)With the new law, Germany is following the example of Spain, which in early 2023 passed a law allowing people over 16 years of age to change their legally registered gender without any medical supervision.