A law giving gay and lesbian couples
the right to marry in Spain celebrates its seventh anniversary this
week.
Socialists made good on their promise
to legalize such unions with a final vote on June 30, 2005. The law
took effect on Sunday, July 3, 2005, making Spain only the third
country to legalize gay nuptials behind the Netherlands and Belgium.
Canada followed suit 17 days later.
According to Europa Press,
18,214 gay couples have tied the knot under the law as of 2010. Of
those, 578 have since divorced. Statistics compiled by the National
Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estdistica)
show male couples outpaced female couples by nearly a 2 to 1 margin
(12,015 to 6,199).
Immediately following passage of the
law, the conservative Popular Party (PP) filed a legal challenge to
the law in the country's Constitutional Court, which has yet to hand
down its ruling.
The PP returned to power in elections
held late last year. Party officials have said they would abide by
the court's decision. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has previously
stated that he disagrees with the law.
(Related: Spanish
language regulator RAE “approves” gay marriage.)