Spain’s new PM opposes gay marriage laws
The election of Mariano Rajoy as Spain’s new prime minister has alarmed many in the country’s LGBT community, over fears that he may want to destroy marriage equality.
Rajoy has previously said that he supports civil unions for same-sex couples, but he does not think they should be able to marry.
His conservative Popular Party has already lodged an appeal in Spain’s Constitutional Court against the country’s 2005 landmark law, which granted the rights of same-sex couples to marry.
Spain became the third member of the European Union after Belgium and the Netherlands to allow same-sex weddings, and ahead of neighbouring Portugal and Sweden.
20,000 gay couples have tied the knot since 2005.
According to the Huffington Post, fears that Rajoy could attempt to turn back the clock on Spanish gay equality has led to a sizeable increase in the number of same sex weddings over the past few weeks.
Same-sex marriage is not the only controversial social issue Rajoy is planning to tackle.
According to Reuters, he plans to eliminate the possibility for 16 or 17-year olds to have an abortion without parental consent.
