Open Forum International Journal of Iberian Studies Volume 21 Number 1 © 2008 Intellect Ltd Open Forum. English language. doi: 10.1386/ijis.21.1.41/3 Outstanding challenges in a post-equality era: The same-sex marriage and gender identity laws in Spain Raquel Platero Complutense University of Madrid Abstract Spain has captured international attention with regards to equality for sexual minorities, recently approving laws that allow same-sex couples to marry under the same conditions as different-sex couples (Law 13/2005) and that allow transgender people to change their name in the register without having to go through compulsory surgery (Law 3/2007). Using intersectionality as a frame- work for my analysis, I explore the limitations of the notion of equality in both legal texts by adding an analysis that includes not only sexuality, but also gender, ethnicity, age, and class. Both laws aimed at satisfying the demands of social movements and were designed to overcome inequality and have a relevant sym- bolic impact. Despite this, it is argued, they were not framed to transform society in depth. Both laws are contributing to reproduce inequality by not taking into account multiple discriminations. The regulation of sexuality has evolved rapidly in recent years, with the cre- ation of not only new sexual identities and social movements around sexual practices, but also new civil rights. According to Laraña and Gusfield (1994), we have been witnessing the way that complex social networks have arisen in developed capitalist societies, and seen how groups were organised around sexuality along with the incipient women’s movements, and then went on to claim a collective identity of their own and also took to the streets. Lately, sexual minorities have been normalised through several public policies in Spain: from the decriminalisation of homosexuality with the new Civil Code (1995) to the consecutive adoption of civil partnership laws in twelve autonomous communities, 1 and the changes in the Civil Code which allow marriage between same-sex couples (Law 13/2005) and the Law of Registration of Rectification of Sex – the latter unfortunately known as the Gender Identity Law (3/2007) (see Platero 2007a). These changes have taken place at the same time as public services for gays and transgenders 1 In chronological order: Catalonia (Law 10/1998 reformed by Law 3/2005), Aragon (Law 6/1999), Navarra (Law 6/2000), Valencia (Law 1/2001), Madrid (Law 11/2001), Balear Islands (Law 18/2001), Asturias (Law 4/2002), Andalusia (Law 5/2002), Canary Islands (Law 5/2003), Extremadura (Law 5/2003), Basque Country (Law 2/2003), and 41 IJIS 21 (1) 41–49 © Intellect Ltd 2008 Keywords Gay, lesbian and transgender rights same-sex marriage intersectionality