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The Ultraconservative Agenda Against Sexual Rights in Spain: A Catholic Repertoire of Contention to Reframe Public Concerns

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Public Discourses About Homosexuality and Religion in Europe and Beyond

Abstract

Although the Spanish population actually supports sexual-rights policies, the Roman Catholic Church, right-wing parties, and anti-gender groups have been lobbying and marching against same-sex marriage laws and antidiscrimination policies since 2004. Several repertoires of contention have been employed under the ideological framework of the Vatican’s gender doctrine and, at the same time, as an expression of the new tendencies of postsecularism about religious citizenship, also inspired by the Vatican’s promotion of the so-called “New Evangelization.” This chapter explores the actors, strategies, and discourses of Catholic activists in Spain. Having first sketched the historical context of Spain, the chapter explores the religious and secular repertoires of mobilization developed by several Catholic activist groups over the last one and half a decades—from demonstrations and social media campaigns to complaints in court and international conferences—as well as the adoption of a new doctrinal language to blur the private–public boundaries in political debates.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Since 1992, similar rights have been extended to the Israeli Communities of Spain, Evangelical Religious Entities, and the Spanish Islamic Commission, but these agreements differ from the Catholic convention because this is considered an international treaty (governed by the rules of international law), while agreements with other confessions are ordinary state laws.

  2. 2.

    68.2% of Spaniards still consider themselves Catholic, but just 11.6% of those Catholics (7.91% of the total population) regularly attend religious ceremonies (CIS 2018). Only 3% of the Spanish population considers religion one of their most important “values” (Eurobarometer 2012) in contrast to the 53.4% of Spaniards that consider religion a low or unimportant issue in their lives (Bescansa and Jerez 2013, 9) or the 51.3% of those who only think that the Church has “too much power” (CIS 2008). In fact, despite the old and strong effort to create a stable ethno-Catholic identity, very few Spaniards today consider religion meaningful in their national identity (9% according to Pew Research Center 2017).

  3. 3.

    48% of Catholic Spaniards do not agree with the idea of priests celebrating gay weddings but, significantly, 43% do. According to the survey presented by Univision, there is no country that clearly agrees with the proposition, but Spain is the one that most supports the idea. Press note in BBC Mundo, http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2014/02/140209_encuesta_catolicos_yv.

  4. 4.

    Mons. Rouco’s positions in the synod were expressed in Eleven Cardinals talk about Marriage and Family (Aymans 2015), the book that gathered opposition to Francis’s agenda.

  5. 5.

    Concerning the political spectrum in Spain, terms such as “conservative/progressive,” “right/left,” or ultraconservatives and far right are used according to the Spanish parties’ alliances with the European parliamentary groups. Therefore (and mentioning only those we refer in the text), the People’s Party is considered conservative right wing (in line with the European People’s Party), Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party is considered progressive left wing (like the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats), and Vox is considered ultraconservative and populist far right (in line with the group Europe of Nations and Freedom). Other ultraconservative and traditional far-right parties in Spain aligned with the Europe of Nations and Freedom are Alternativa Española, Democracia Nacional, Falange Española, or Familia y Vida (see Rodríguez Jiménez 2012).

  6. 6.

    The first reference to the “culture of death” by the Spanish Church was in 1994, through the pastoral message The family, privileged place for the civilization of love (CEE 1994), which encourages Christian families to defend Christian marriage. The first reference to “gender ideology” can be found in 2001, in the Pastoral Instruction entitled The Family, sanctuary of life and hope of society (CEE 2001).

  7. 7.

    Members include the Catholic Association of Propagandists, the Spanish Association of Catholic Apothecaries, the Catholic Confederation of Parents, the Association for Conscientious Objection, the Family Life Institute-S.O.S. Family, and the Teachers of Natural Family Planning. It also includes groups associated with specific ecclesiastical movements such as Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi (represented by foundations such as Altius and Dif), as well as individuals belonging to groups such as the Foundation More Human and Opus Dei (represented by Evangelium Vitae and Foundation Family, Society and Education).

  8. 8.

    In 2009 they marched in Madrid against the bill on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy.

  9. 9.

    Quoted in the SFF’s website, http://www.forofamilia.org/nosotros/quienes-somos/el-foro (accessed June 14, 2019).

  10. 10.

    Quoted in the CitizenGo’s website, https://www.citizengo.org/hazteoir/ideario-fundacion-citizengo (accessed June 14, 2019).

  11. 11.

    The original organization was created in 2001 with the name HazteOir.org (Make yourself heard).

  12. 12.

    The bus drove through Germany, Italy, France, the United States, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia, with different slogans in each country and the support of local organizations. The international campaign used the hashtags #FreeSpeachBus, #ElBusDeLaLibertad, and #DerBusIstDa. According to the CitizenGo bulletin, Actuall (https://www.actuall.com), the campaign generated almost two thousand mentions in journals and 268 million impacts.

  13. 13.

    World Congress of Families is one of the most influential American organizations in defense of family, with prominent anti-LGBT+ demands and allies since 1997 (Stroop 2016).

  14. 14.

    The far right’s best result ever in Spain (including traditional fascist, Francoist, and other small parties) only got 1.42% of the electoral census in 1979, and they never reached that percentage again until 2019.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Monica Cornejo-Valle & J. Ignacio Pichardo

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  1. Monica Cornejo-Valle
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  2. J. Ignacio Pichardo
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  1. The Hague, The Netherlands

    Marco Derks

  2. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Mariecke van den Berg

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Cornejo-Valle, M., Pichardo, J. (2020). The Ultraconservative Agenda Against Sexual Rights in Spain: A Catholic Repertoire of Contention to Reframe Public Concerns. In: Derks, M., van den Berg, M. (eds) Public Discourses About Homosexuality and Religion in Europe and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56326-4_10

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