Marriage: yes or no?
eldiario.es has gathered the Marriage Census data found in the Spanish Statistical Office. In Spain, there were around 2.1 million marriages between 2005 and 2016. Of these, 39,643 were same-sex couples. The first year that same-sex marriage was approved (2006) 4,313 couples got married. 1,313 were between two women and 3,000 were between two men. In 2016 Spain had a total of 4,320 same-sex weddings, of which 2,132 were between two women and 2,188 were between two men.
Our reality is that to have children we must be married. You have to be married to register a child in both your names. This also protects your rights to the child in case of separation.
The marriage has to happen before the baby is born. If you decide to use the ROPA method as your fertility treatment, then you must be married before you start the process. This is because it involves egg donation to or from your partner.
What happens if we are not married?
If you are not be married to your partner when the baby is born, then only the mother that carried the baby will be able to appear in the registry. Your only other option to be registered as a parent would be to adopt the child, which is a relatively easy process.
If the separation is not in good terms, the non-pregnant mother will have to file a parentage suit for the state to recognise her relationship to the child since, legally, she would not have any right over him or her.
Discriminations against us
The forms of discrimination that do NOT exist when it comes to lesbian families:
1. The need to be married to adopt
2. The fertility clinic certificate. It’s not required as of 2017, however, some public offices still ask for it. Legal experts claim that this certificate could safeguard against future lawsuits by sperm donors who might want to claim their paternity.
The forms of discrimination that still exist
1. That the couple must be married before the baby is born to register a child in both their names.
2. The need to go to the Registry in person (it can’t be done online), and they require you to bring both marriage and birth certificates.
It’s essential that this discrimination end.
