Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Spain rank among the highest in the world, having undergone significant advancements within recent decades. Among ancient Romans in Spain, sexual relations between men was viewed as commonplace, but a law against homosexuality was promulgated by Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans, and Roman moral norms underwent significant changes leading up to the 4th century. Laws against sodomy were later established during the legislative period. They were first repealed from the Spanish Code in 1822, but changed again along with societal attitudes towards homosexuality during the Spanish Civil War and Francisco Franco's regime.
Throughout the late-20th century, the rights of the LGBTQ community received more awareness and same-sex sexual activity became legal once again in 1979 with an equal age of consent to heterosexual intercourse. After recognising unregistered cohabitation between same-sex couples countrywide and registered partnerships in certain cities and communities since 1998 and 2003, Spain legalised both same-sex marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples in 2005. Transgender individuals can change their legal gender without the need for sex reassignment surgery or sterilisation. Discrimination in employment regarding sexual orientation has been banned nationwide since 1995. A broader law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and provision of goods and services nationwide was passed in 2022. LGBTQ people are allowed to serve in the military and MSMs can donate blood since 2005.
Spain has been recognised as one of the most culturally liberal and LGBT-friendly countries in the world and LGBT culture has had a significant role in Spanish literature, music, cinema and other forms of entertainment as well as social issues and politics. Public opinion on homosexuality is noted by pollsters as being overwhelmingly positive, with a study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2013 indicating that more than 88 percent of Spanish citizens accepted homosexuality, making it the most LGBT-friendly of the 39 countries polled. LGBT visibility has also increased in several layers of society such as the Guardia Civil, army, judicial, and clergy. However, in other areas such as sports, the LGBT community remains marginalised. Spanish film directors such as Pedro Almodóvar have increased awareness regarding LGBT tolerance in Spain among international audiences. In 2007, Madrid hosted the annual Europride celebration and hosted WorldPride in 2017. The cities of Barcelona and Madrid also have a reputation as two of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world. Gran Canaria and Tenerife are also known worldwide as an LGBT tourist destination.
LGBT history in Spain
Roman Empire
The Romans brought, as with other aspects of their culture, their sexual morality to Spain. Romans were open-minded about their relationships, and sexuality among men was commonplace. Among the Romans, bisexuality seems to have been perceived as the ideal. Eighteenth-century English historian Edward Gibbon wrote, of the first fifteen emperors, "Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct" by his cultural standards – the implication being that he was the only one not to take men or boys as lovers. Gibbon based this on Suetonius' factual statement that "He had a great passion for women, but had no interest in men."Suet. Claud. 33. Suetonius and the other ancient authors actually used this against Claudius. They accused him of being dominated by these same women and wives, of being uxorious, and of being a womaniser.
Marriages between men occurred during the early Roman Empire. These marriages were condemned by law in the Theodosian Code of Christian emperors Constantius and Constans on 16 December 342.Theodosian Code 9.7.3: "When a man marries and is about to offer himself to men in womanly fashion (quum vir nubit in feminam viris porrecturam), what does he wish, when sex has lost all its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment. Martial, a first-century poet, born and educated in Bílbilis (now Calatayud in Aragon, Spain), but spent most of his life in Rome, attests to same-sex marriages between men during the early Roman Empire.Martial Epigrams 1.24, 12.42 He also characterised Roman life in epigrams and poems. In a fictitious first person, he talks about anal and vaginal penetration, and about receiving fellatio from both men and women. He also attests to adult men who played passive roles with other men. He describes, for example, the case of an older man who played the passive role and let a younger slave occupy the active role.Martial, 3.71.
The first recorded marriage between two men occurred during the reign of Emperor Nero, who is reported to have married two other men on different occasions.Suetonius Life of Nero 28–29 Roman Emperor Elagabalus is also reported to have done the same. Emperors who were universally praised and lauded by the Romans, such as Hadrian and Trajan, openly had male lovers, although it is not recorded whether or not they ever married their lovers. Hadrian's lover, Antinous, received deification upon his death and numerous statues exist of him today, more than any other non-imperial person.
Among the conservative upper Senatorial classes, status was more important than the person in any sexual relationship. Roman citizens could penetrate non-citizen males, plebeian (or low class) males, male slaves, boys, eunuchs, and male prostitutes just as easily as young female slaves, concubines, and female prostitutes. However, no upper class citizen would allow himself to be penetrated by another man, regardless of age or status. He would have to play the active role in any sexual relationship with a man. There was a strict distinction between an active homosexual (who would have sex with men and women) and a passive homosexual (who was regarded as servile and effeminate). This morality was in fact used against Julius Caesar, whose allegedly passive sexual interactions with the King of Bithynia, Nicomedes, were commented everywhere in Rome. However, many people in the upper classes ignored such negative ideas about playing a passive role, as is proved by the actions of the Roman emperors Nero and Elagabalus.
In contrast to the Greeks, evidence for homosexual relationships between men of the same age exists for the Romans. These sources are diverse and include such things as the Roman novel Satyricon, graffiti and paintings found at Pompeii, as well as inscriptions left on tombs and papyri found in Egypt. Generally speaking, however, a kind of pederasty (not unlike the one that can be found among the Greeks) was dominant in Rome. Even among heterosexual relationships, men tended to marry women much younger than themselves, usually in their early teens.
Lesbianism was also known, in two forms. Feminine women would have sex with adolescent girls: a kind of female pederasty, and masculine women followed male pursuits, including fighting, hunting, and relationships with other women.
The first law against same-sex marriage was promulgated by the Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans.Theodosian Code 9.7.3: Nevertheless, the Christian emperors continued to collect taxes on male prostitutes until the reign of Anastasius (491–581). In the year 390, Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I, and Arcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be burned alive in front of the public.(Theodosian Code 9.7.6): All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people. Christian Emperor Justinian I (527–565) made homosexuals a scapegoat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences".Justinian Novels 77, 144
As a result of this, Roman morality changed by the 4th century. For example, Ammianus Marcellinus harshly condemned the sexual behaviour of the Taifali, a tribe located between the Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea which practiced the Greek-style pederasty. In 342, emperors Constans and Constantius II introduced a law to punish passive homosexuality (possibly by castration), to which later in 390 Theodosius I would add death by fire to all passive homosexuals that worked in brothels. In 438, this law was expanded to include all passive homosexuals, in 533 Justinian punished any homosexual act with castration and death by fire, and in 559 this law became even more strict.
Three reasons have been given for this change of attitude. Procopius, historian at Justinian's court, considered that behind the laws were political motivations, as they allowed Justinian to destroy his enemies and confiscate their properties, and were hardly efficient stopping homosexuality between ordinary citizens. The second reason, and perhaps the more important one, was the rising influence of Christianity in the Roman society, including the Christian paradigm about sex serving solely for reproduction purposes. Colin Spencer, in his book Homosexuality: A History, suggests the possibility that a certain sense of self-preservation in the Roman society after suffering some epidemic such as the Black fever increased the reproductive pressure in individuals. This phenomenon would be combined with the rising influence of Stoicism in the Empire.
Until the year 313, there was no common doctrine about homosexuality in Christianity, but it is the mistaken belief that Paul had already condemned it as contra natura, though he had no exegetical reason for doing so:
Eventually, the Church Fathers created a literary corpus in which homosexuality and sex were condemned most energetically, fighting against a common practice in that epoch's society.The poet Ausonius (310–395) maintained a passionate relationship with Paulinus, bishop of Nola. It is not known if that love was physical, but their passion was reflected in the correspondence they kept. The letters from Ausonius, 43 years the senior of Paulinus, also show his sadness regarding their separation when the latter intensified his Christian life. Even Saint Augustíne confessed to having homosexual lovers in his youth, although he would later reject that lust as sinful (Homosexuality: A history, Colin Spencer, ). On the other hand, homosexuality was identified with heresy, not only because of the pagan traditions, but also due to the rites of some gnostic sects or Manichaeism, which, according to Augustine of Hippo, practised homosexual rites.
Kingdom of the Visigoths (418–718) The Germanic peoples had little tolerance for homosexuals, whom they considered on the same level as "imbeciles" and slaves, and glorified the warrior camaraderie between men. However, there are reports in Scandinavian countries of feminine and transvestite pastors, and the Nordic gods, the Æsir, including Thor and Odin, obtained arcane recognition drinking semen.
In the Early Middle Ages, attitudes toward homosexuality remained constant. There are known cases of homosexual behaviour which did not receive punishment, even if they were not accepted. For example, King Clovis I on his baptism day confessed to having relationships with other men; or Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon poet whose verses and letters contain homoerotism.