Spain's same-sex
marriage law applies to foreigners

Spain's justice ministry has ruled that the country's same-sex marriage law allows marriage to a foreigner regardless of whether that person's homeland recognizes the partnership, resolving a snag that arose last month.

Lawmakers in June made Spain the world's third country to legalize same-sex marriage, following the Netherlands and Belgium. Canada has since become the fourth.

Days later, however, a court in the northeastern Catalonia region said a Spanish man could not wed his Indian partner because India does not allow same-sex marriage. However, in a ruling published Monday in Spain's Official State Bulletin, the justice ministry rejected that position. It said it had reached the "conclusion that a marriage between a Spaniard and a foreigner, or between foreigners of the same sex resident in Spain, shall be valid as a result of applying Spanish material law, even if the foreigner's national legislation does not allow or recognize the validity of such marriages." (AP)