Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights within the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar have evolved significantly in the past decades. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1993 and the age of consent was equalised to 16 in 2012. The Supreme Court of Gibraltar ruled in April 2013 that same-sex couples have the right to adopt. Civil partnerships have been available to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples since March 2014, and in October 2016, Gibraltar voted to legalise same-sex marriage with the Civil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 passing unanimously in Parliament. The law received royal assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity Gibraltar's laws around homosexuality were first drafted in the Victorian period. This period did not believe women had a sexual life or identity separate from men. Consequently, there was no need for the law to recognize the existence of potential female/female sexual activity and laws about same-sex sexual activity only related to men. Homosexuality, defined legally as male sodomy, was decriminalized in Gibraltar in 1993 following pressure from the European Court of Human Rights and Government of the United Kingdom. Because it related to male sodomy, it did not apply to women.
In Gibraltar, the age of consent for all sexual activity regardless of sexuality and/or gender was equalised at 16 in April 2011, when under Supreme Court order the previous law – under which the age of consent for gay males was 18 – was found to be unconstitutional. Heterosexual anal sex was decriminalised at the same time and the age of consent set at 16. Gay male sexual conduct was decriminalised in 1993.
Political campaigning prior to the 2007 elections was prominent with equality rights organisation Gib Gay Rights (GGR), headed by human rights campaigner Felix Alvarez, openly challenging the incumbent Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, for more rights in Gibraltar for gay and lesbian people.GGR rallies supporters to act in Election unity Retrieved on 23 August 2007.Gay Rights Group Welcomes Intervention of British Prime Minister (16 October 2007)Council of Europe Publishes Gibraltar Gay Discrimination Issue (9 January 2008)Govt has ‘no right to spy in bedrooms’ (16 November 2007)Gay Age of Consent Equality: ‘We Have Given Gibraltarian Government Long Enough’ (8 October 2007)
Campaigning on the issue of an equal age of consent of 16 had been strongly undertaken.PM Brown To Take Up Gay Age of Consent Inequality in Gibraltar The issues were raised at the Foreign Affairs Committee enquiry into the overseas territories in 2008, where they concluded:
We recommend that the Government should take steps to ensure that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender status is made illegal in all overseas territories.
On 18 May 2009, the Gibraltar Parliament rejected a private member's bill, proposed by the Minister for Justice, to equalise the age of consent. It was opposed by the GSLP/Liberal opposition for technical reasons due to the way the bill was written. Government MPs were given a free vote on the bill. It was defeated, as government MPs were split on its approval, and the opposition members all voted against it.
The influential Gibraltar Women's Association (GWA) also called for the age consent to be levelled at 18.
On 1 October 2009, new proposed legislation would enable the Government of Gibraltar to ask the Supreme Court to test whether existing or draft laws are compatible with the Constitution. This would provide a simplified, purpose-built mechanism to deal with contentious issues such as the age of consent. In March 2010, it sought an opinion from the Court to see if the unequal age of consent was discrimination under the principles of the European Council.
On 1 April 2010, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband pointed out that if a British Overseas Territory is unwilling to meet "international obligations" such as equalising the age of consent it may be imposed by an Order in Council.Gay Group Accuses Chief Minister of Homophobic Crusade "At Tax Payers Expense"
On 8 April 2011, the Supreme Court of Gibraltar ruled that a higher age of consent of 18 for gay sex was unconstitutional, and thus mandated an equal age of consent of 16, while at the same time also decriminalising heterosexual anal sex.
In August 2011, the gender-neutral Crimes Act 2011 was approved, which sets an equal age of consent of 16 regardless of sexual orientation, and reflects the recent Supreme Court decision in statute law. The law took effect on 23 November 2012.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Civil partnerships In March 2014, the Parliament passed a civil partnership law, granting same-sex couples most of the rights of marriage, including allowing the adoption of children by civil partners, as mandated by the court ruling in 2013.
Same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage became an issue of interest for the Government after their re-election in 2015. A command paper to that effect was published in December 2015 and a public consultation was held, whilst talk of a possible referendum on the issue was not ruled out.GSLP/Liberals Manifesto 2015 , pages 95-96 The leader of the opposition Social Democrats Party announced his support for same-sex marriage in January 2016, days before the Government ruled out a referendum. An inter-ministerial committee was set up in March 2016 to listen to stakeholder concerns and more than 3,400 responses to the discussion were received. The Government published a bill to legalise same-sex marriage in August 2016.
On 26 October 2016, the Civil Marriage Amendment Bill 2016 was passed in the Gibraltar Parliament with unanimous support from all 15 members present during the vote. The bill received royal assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016. The first legally recognized same-sex marriage in Gibraltar took place the next day.
The GSLP–Liberal Alliance, who were re-elected in 2015, included the following commitment in their election manifesto: "We will now publish a Command Paper in order to take the views of the public on how to best deal with the request by some for civil marriage to be extended to same sex couples. We are totally committed both to ensuring that religious denominations are not forced to change their practices, beliefs or sacraments in any way and to the principle that the State must not discriminate between individuals based on the grounds of sexual orientation. The results of the responses to the Command Paper will be published by June ." The Equal Rights Group said it did not go far enough and asked for more commitment to introduce same-sex marriage.
On 22 December 2015, a command paper on introducing same-sex marriage was published and was under consultation until 15 January 2016.We welcome Same Sex Marriage announcement – but we’re not quite there yet!, Equality Rights Group On 4 January 2016, it was announced that the consultation period had been extended to 29 January 2016.Consultation period extended for same-sex marriage Bill (GBC)Jan 04 - Extension Of Same Sex Marriage Consultation Period (YGTV)Extension to Consultation Period for Command Paper on Marriage Act On 5 January 2016, a spokesman for the Government stated that a referendum on the issue had not yet been ruled out until all the comments submitted by the public had been considered.Referendum on the question of gay marriage has apparently not been ruled out (GBC)
On 18 January 2016, in his New Year message, GSD leader Daniel Feetham declared his support for same-sex marriage and, despite allowing members of his party a free vote on matters of conscience, stated that his parliamentary colleagues all declared their support for the issue as well. He then stated that it was up to the Government to decide on how to proceed with the issue when the time comes.Opposition would support same-sex marriage legislation, says Feetham (GBC)Jan 18 - New Year’s Message By The Leader Of The Opposition (YGTV)
On 20 January 2016, it was announced by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo (GSLP) that there would be no referendum on same-sex marriage after a parliamentary debate on the issue was initiated by the Opposition.BREAKING NEWS: there will be NO Referendum to decide same-sex marriage! (ERG)Jan 20 - ERG Welcomes Parliamentary Announcement (YGTV) In that same debate, the Chief Minister stated that he expected the feedback from the consultation process to actually improve the bill on same-sex marriage.New members debut in Parliament (GBC)
On 21 March 2016, the Government announced that it had received 3,490 responses in regards to the public consultation and that, due to the controversial nature of the subject, it would establish an Inter-Ministerial Committee (composed of four members of the Government: Gilbert Licudi, Samantha Sacramento, Neil Costa, and Albert Isola) to listen to the views of the various groups and many of the individuals who expressed a view on the subject, and report its findings back to the Cabinet by June 2016.Over 3,400 responses to ‘Equal Marriage’ Command Paper (Gibraltar Chronicle)Nearly 3,500 submissions on equal marriage command paper (GBC)Equal Marriage: Responses to Command Paper In response to the Government's announcement, the chairman of the Equality Rights Group (ERG), Felix Alvarez, questioned the commitment of the governing GSLP-Liberal Alliance to legislate on the matter and urged both the LGBT community at large and their friends and supporters to remain calm and reserve their responses until the Government comes up with a definitive answer on how to handle this situation. Based on their own statistics and past advocacy efforts, ERG claimed that over 63% of those consultation responses were in favor of same-sex marriage and that the situation shouldn't be made more complicated than it should be.Mar 21 - ERG Says Government's Behaviour Regarding Equal Marriage Consultation Is "Fidgety And Indecisive" (YGTV)
On 15 August 2016, a government bill on the legalisation of same-sex marriage was published.Gibraltar puts same-sex marriage bill before Parliament On 26 October 2016, the Civil Marriage Amendment Bill 2016 was passed in the Gibraltar Parliament with unanimous support from all 15 members present during the vote. An amendment to remove a controversial part of the bill, which allows deputy registrars to opt out of conducting same-sex marriages was defeated 11 to 4 with only some of the Opposition MPs voting in favor.Gibraltar approves same-sex marriage The bill requires that, in circumstances where a deputy registrar does not agree to officiate a same-sex marriage, an alternative registrar must be assigned to conduct the marriage. The bill received royal assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016. The first same-sex marriage in Gibraltar was performed the following day.
In May 2017, Nadine Rodríguez and Alicia Muscat sought to convert their civil partnership into a marriage were told to divorce first by authorities, who cited a lack of legislation for converting a civil partnership to a marriage. This occurred despite the Gibraltar Equality Rights Group confirming that such a provision existed in the law, and that the matter was simply one of excessive paperwork.
Adoption, surrogacy and family planning