Regulation about civil marriage between people of the same gender
The socialist government, by enacting the regulation about civil marriage, has changed civil laws so they promote civil rights and freedoms. This is a questions of rights for the thousands of citizens who were not able to enjoy their rights because of their sexual orientation, who deserve the same respect as heterosexual people and who have the right to live a life of their own choosing.
This initiative is the realization of a campaign promise given by Socialist Workers Party of Spain (SWPS) and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Zapatero’s administration was determined to codify gay and lesbian equality. To this final end, they cancelled the unbearable discrimination that these people experienced.
The SWPS thinks that it is necessary, if we want equality for all citizens, to end legal discrimination. Millions of citizens are unable to experience full civil rights because of their sexual orientation.
The previous National Party (NP) government was against all initiatives that would have advanced the equal rights of gay men, lesbians, and transgendered people. In the previous period, the majority of the political parties in parliament spoke out in favor of same sex. Only the NP voted against it.
A great majority of citizens supported the government’s initiative and the SWPS legalization of same-sex marriage:
- 67.7% of people asked in a recent poll said that they think partners in a long-term homosexual relationship should enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual couples. 66.2% said that homosexual couples have the right to legal recognition of their relationships.
- In another recent poll, this one conducted by Gallup, 61.2% of the respondents said that they are in favor of same-sex marriage and 54.1% agreed with the statement that homosexual couples should be allowed to adopt children.
The change in civil law made same-sex marriage possible. This is a measure that is not directed against anyone; it is directed towards equality and pluralism. Marriage is an expression of a free choice. Each couple who decides that their relationship should be recognized in this way will be able to grow old as a family partnership or in another form. The change in the civil law does not violate the rights of religious communities that have their own attitudes about this issue.
Through this action, Spain became a leading state in the struggle for gay rights. There are two countries that previously recognized same-sex marriages – The Netherlands and Belgium. In Canada, this right is recognized in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba and in the Yukon Territory. In Nova Scotia, the Supreme Court decided that laws that prohibit same-sex marriage are unconstitutional because they codify inequality. A similar case occurred in the American state of Massachusetts.
When a new area of civil rights emerges (women’s right to vote, interracial marriage, etc.) there are always countries that are the first to recognize this right. As time passes, every country accepts these civil rights.
October 7, 2005. The pension fund, for the first time in history, recognized the right for survivors’ benefits for a gay man. This man’s partner died on August 23 of this year.
Sylvia Jaen Martinez was born in 1972 in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands in Spain. Professionally, she is an optician-optometrist. She joined the feminist movement while she was studying in Madrid 12 years ago. A visit to the Gay Games prompted her to dedicate herself to LGBT activism. She is the coordinator of the LGBT Federation in Spain.
