Lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender , and queer LGBTQ rights in Spain rank among the highest in the world , having undergone significant advancements within recent decades. Laws against sodomy were later established during the legislative period. They were first repealed from the Spanish Code in , but changed again along with societal attitudes towards homosexuality during the Spanish Civil War and Francisco Franco 's regime.
Throughout the lateth century, the rights of the LGBTQ community received more awareness and same-sex sexual activity became legal once again in with an equal age of consent to heterosexual intercourse. After recognising unregistered cohabitation between same-sex couples countrywide and registered partnerships in certain cities and communities since and , Spain legalised both same-sex marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples in Transgender individuals can change their legal gender without the need for sex reassignment surgery or sterilisation.
Discrimination in employment regarding sexual orientation has been banned nationwide since A broader law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and provision of goods and services nationwide was passed in Spain has been recognised as one of the most culturally liberal and LGBT-friendly countries in the world and LGBT culture has had a significant role in Spanish literature , music , cinema and other forms of entertainment as well as social issues and politics.
Public opinion on homosexuality is noted by pollsters as being overwhelmingly positive, with a study conducted by the Pew Research Center in indicating that more than 88 percent of Spanish citizens accepted homosexuality, making it the most LGBT-friendly of the 39 countries polled.
LGBT visibility has also increased in several layers of society such as the Guardia Civil , army, judicial, and clergy. However, in other areas such as sports, the LGBT community remains marginalised. In , Madrid hosted the annual Europride celebration and hosted WorldPride in The Romans brought, as with other aspects of their culture, their sexual morality to Spain. Among the Romans, bisexuality seems to have been perceived as the ideal. Eighteenth-century English historian Edward Gibbon wrote, of the first fifteen emperors, "Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct" by his cultural standards β the implication being that he was the only one not to take men or boys as lovers.
