Spanish gays fear new government could end same-sex marriage

Dec 5, 2011, 14:40 GMT

Madrid - Spanish homosexuals on Monday asked the Constitutional Court to confirm their right to marry, after concern that the conservative government-in-waiting will cancel a law that has allowed tens of thousands of gays to wed.

The court must put an end to the 'great uncertainty and insecurity' created by the victory of the centre-right People's Party (PP) in the November 20 elections, the homosexuals', bisexuals' and transsexuals' federation FELGTB said in a letter to the tribunal.

PP leader Mariano Rajoy, whose party won an absolute majority in parliament, is due to be sworn in as new prime minister on December 21.

The PP lodged a complaint at the Constitutional Court six years ago against a 2005 law introduced by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government.

The law gave homosexuals full marriage rights, including the right to adopt children. Spain thus became one of the world's first countries - alongside Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands - to allow gays to marry.

More than 25,000 gay couples have wed since then, according to FELGTB.

Many homosexuals married just before the elections for fear that a future PP government would deprive them of that right.

The 2005 law 'did not only give us rights, it also gave us dignity,' FELGTB president Antonio Poveda said.

The most conservative wing of the PP wants the government to cancel the law, but Rajoy has remained ambivalent on the matter.