Overview

• Spain’s parliament approved the marriage equality reform on June 30, 2005, and the law took effect three days later, making Spain the third country worldwide to enact same-sex marriage.
• The first legal same-sex wedding was celebrated on July 11, 2005, in Tres Cantos when Emilio Menéndez and Carlos Baturín exchanged vows in a private ceremony.
• Within a year of the law’s enactment, over 42,000 same-sex marriages were registered across Spain, reflecting a rapid embrace of newly granted rights.
• The Constitutional Court upheld the reform after the Partido Popular lodged a challenge, rejecting the appeal and affirming the law’s legitimacy.
• Retrospectives revisit early pioneers from Elisa and Marcela in 1901 to modern advocates, noting the passing of Carlos Baturín in 2024 as a moment of reflection on the law’s cultural resonance.