We are family (or not): Social and legal recognition of same-sex relationships and lesbian and gay families in Spain

Abstract

Spain has experienced a radical change in terms of recognition of same-sex couples and non-heterosexual families. Officially a Catholic country during a 40-year dictatorial regime, the consolidation of democracy created a favourable context for the legalization of same-sex marriage and the recognition of lesbian and gay families. In this article, the Spanish case is examined against existing literature on queer kinship revealing important peculiarities. The available data on people’s use of this new legal possibility and their reasons for marrying or not are also analysed. This article argues that these social changes bring about new challenges, since they shed light onto different forms of discrimination and homophobic prejudice, still present at the different levels of society, public policies and the legal system.