Same sex marriage is legal in Spain and it has been since 2005. However, this does not stop certain oafish individuals from believing they're above common decency and fair-minded societal behavior.
Earlier this year, Jesus Tomillero Benavente opened up to a Spanish newspaper and became the first openly gay referee in Spain. Soon after, he received so much hate and verbal abuse that he was pressured to quit his dream job. The referee confessed to The Guardian: "The homophobic slurs weren’t even the worst part, it was that the whole crowd continued to laugh."
This September he decided to return and continue in his role as a referee. He quickly moved back to square one when he received many offensive comments straight to his face from soccer players and fans.
In his second match back he received nasty comments after calling a penalty in a match between Atletico Zabal and CD Lasalle. A fan yelled at Benavente to “get off for being gay” before being removed from the stadium. Later, the same fan made his way back into the stadium and continued to yell “you fucking f*****” at Benavente.
These comments were not something he could just brush off, and they soon got worse and turned into death threats. People were sending him messages on Facebook and Instagram calling him a b****, f***** or saying "they will kill him with AIDS". Many of the images that were sent to his phone displayed handguns and bullets, which eventually caused him to fear for his life and report it to the police.
Even though the police would guard his house for many hours in a day, he decided the only thing he could do was to live his life. Benavente came to the conclusion that he would not stop refereeing even though he lived his life in fear.
Spain was the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage and is known to be one of the most accepting places in the world when it comes to homosexuality according to the Pew Research Center in Washington.
