Spanish gays marrying in their thousands

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

Over a thousand same sex couples have been married in Spain since the country’s marriage equality law came into force last summer.

International newspaper reports claim that 800 same sex ceremonies have been recorded on computers and that only accounts for half of the marriages performed.

Pedro Zerolo of Spain’s ruling Socialist Party, made the announcement last week. He is gay and married, he said: “As of today, there should be more than 1,000 same-sex couples married and about the same number of applications going through.”

He added that since the law took effect in June, more than 10 percent of the marriages taking place each month have involved same-sex couples.

Spain was the third country to grant civil marriage rights to same-sex couples, after the Netherlands and Belgium. The UK introduced civil partnerships in December 2005.