20 years of same-sex marriage: "Getting married is also an act of protest."

BarcelonaThe approval of same-sex marriage twenty years ago represented the achievement of a civil right for the LGBTI community, the "normalization" of same-sex couples, and even more so for lesbian women. This is emphasized by activist and artist Alpe Conceptes, who since he was a teenager during the late Franco era had moved through the Barcelona scene, where he met those who were the great leaders of the community's struggle. Under Dutch law, he had formalized his union with his male partner before a notary in 1994. The marriage ended with a family meal. Years later, in 2000, the couple separated and returned to the notary to rewrite their respective wills. At that time, same-sex marriage was not on the social agenda, and Llucià Ainsa lived her homosexuality behind closed doors, far from the LGBTI demands and struggle.

As of 2023 (the latest data from Idescat), 10,377 equal marriages have been officially registered in Catalonia, of which 4,305 are between women. Getting to this point was not an easy path, but, as Conceptes states, it meant "having achieved the goal after so many years of struggle" of having laws recognize rights, although there was still some reluctance in society.

In June 2005, much of the political, social, and media debate was filled with arguments for and against same-sex marriage. Opposed by the right and the Catholic Church, Congress overrode the Senate's veto and finally, on June 30, approved the amendment to the Civil Code, which permitted same-sex unions. This was a milestone and placed the country at the forefront, along with the Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada. Today, the Rainbow Map He claims that Spain is the fifth country in the world that discriminates the least against the LGBTI community.

Appeal to the Constitutional Court

Ainsa and Conceptes met in 2008, but didn't decide to officially register their union until 2012, when the Constitutional Court dismissed the appeal filed by the People's Party (PP). "The law was flawed until then," explains Ainsa, who justifies the decision to get married as "an act of publicizing the couple's love, but also as an act of political vindication."

Finally, on June 13, 2013 ("13 is our lucky number," they say), they said "I do" at the headquarters of Barcelona's Eixample district, after they had been refused permission to hold the ceremony in the Badalona City Hall auditorium. The couple were dressed by designer Josep Abril, and wanted to symbolize their union by wearing rainbow-colored suspenders. Similarly, the tables were arranged for the hundred or so guests who filled the Casinet de Hostafrancs hall. One of the few disappointments or negative experiences they remember about their wedding was choosing their rings. They weren't able to take advantage of the discount advertised by a jewelry store because the offer was only for "one man's ring and one woman's ring."

Two positions

The trajectory of Ainsa and Conceptos illustrates well what life was like for many homosexuals during the dictatorship and in the years of the conquest of rights and the visibility of the collective. The entry into activism of Conceptos was a normal event, coming as he did from an active sexuality in his adolescence; from being linked to organizations such as the Gay Liberation Front of Catalonia, the Casal Lambda and from the fact that, at the age of 15, in a raid by the greys, he was arrested and raped "for fagotWhen the police called the mother to come and get him at the Via Laietana police station, they lied to her, saying that she had been robbed and found naked. More so now with all the reaction in the United States, Hungary or here with Vox", he points out.

On the other hand, Ainsa spent years in the closet. As a young man, he remembers feeling different from what was considered a "normal and healthy" sexuality, to the point of wondering if liking men wasn't "lust." The turning point came when he explained at work that he was marrying a man, on a day he remembers as "a liberation to stop carrying the burden" of so many years of hiding. "You get used to being in the closet," he says, and admits that listening to his husband's stories makes him feel "a certain envy" for not having come out sooner. Perhaps for this reason, he now doesn't hide his feelings on the street and participates in as many activities as he can with organizations both in Barcelona and Sitges, where he has lived for a few years. "We've even held hands or kissed in public to educate people, because from time to time we still get strange looks," Ainsa says.

Over 60 years old, both are active in the cause that defends the Enlace Foundation, which fights to ensure that elderly and vulnerable people in the community maintain their rights and, for example, receive decent treatment in nursing homes. "We have found that there are couples who put people in rooms with another stranger, ignoring the fact that they have privacy," they complain, emphasizing that the rights they have won "are weak."