Two days after the papal election, Madrid says yes to marriage equality
Two days after the papal election, Spain's parliament said yes to marriage equality. The Vatican was not pleased.
On 21 April 2005, the Spanish Congress of Deputies in Madrid voted to open marriage. One hundred and eighty-three deputies said yes, one hundred and thirty-six no. The timing was symbolic: only two days earlier, Joseph Ratzinger had been elected pope, a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage.
The reform itself was remarkably lean. At its core, a single sentence was added to the Civil Code: marriage has the same requirements and effects whether the partners are of the same or different sex. There were also linguistic changes; "husband" and "wife" became "spouses". With marriage, same-sex couples also received the right to adopt children together.
Behind the law stood the Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, which had only been in office for a year. The Catholic Church and the conservative People's Party fought it bitterly. Jewish, Protestant and Orthodox communities also opposed the bill. Before the vote, a journalist wanted to know how the new pope would react. Zapatero remained calm. He would respect whatever the pope said about it.
The population was further ahead than the Church anyway. According to a state survey, around two thirds of Spaniards supported marriage equality.
The road was not yet entirely clear. The Senate rejected the bill in June, but Congress had the last word and overruled the second chamber. At the beginning of July, the law came into force. After the Netherlands and Belgium, Spain became the third country in the world with full marriage for same-sex couples, and that as a Catholic country in southern Europe. A challenge by the People's Party failed years later before the Constitutional Court.