In June 2005, the Spanish Parliament passed the Law on Gay Marriage, giving gay couples the same rights as heterosexual couples. In cities like Valladolid, one of the biggest in Spain, the mayors (who carry out civil marriages) made an appeal against the implementation of the law. However, mayor Francisco Maroto from Campillo de Ranas, a small village of a hundred inhabitants deep in the mountains of Guadalajara, stepped forward and said: 'I marry'.