From Tampa to Alicante: Two Trailblazers Tell Their Story

You know when a place feels right. Ted and I have found that place in Alicante, Spain … largely because of the people we’ve met here. I’d like to introduce you to two of them: Alberto and Glenn Molina-Coats, who retired earlier this year to Alicante from Tampa, Florida.

Click on the arrow in the frame below to hear their uplifting story–how they love the affordability, the safety, the walkability, the Mediterranean climate, the people, the food, and the freedom Alicante offers. As Glenn says, “We have not regretted our decision to move here one iota.”

A history of trailblazing

Alberto and Glenn aren’t just blazing a trail for other United States residents who might be considering a move to Spain.

They did some trailblazing when they lived in Tampa, too.

They are featured in the video above as they renewed their vows in 2015 at a mass wedding ceremony when same-sex marriage became legal in Florida. On that day, when Hillsborough Clerk of Circuit Court Pat Frank led the proceedings for a score of couples, Alberto and Glenn were no newlyweds.

They were first married in 2004, five years after they met, in a jubilant ceremony attended by family and friends at Davis Island Garden Club in Tampa.

But in 2015, they made it legal. It was high time. As the Molina-Coatses pointed out in media coverage of the mass wedding: “Please understand, as far as we’re concerned it took the government 11 years to catch up to how we’ve been living.”

Don’t you love that quote?

To this writer, it sums up Glenn and Alberto’s brave and feisty spirit … the same spirit that has led them to start a new chapter of life in Spain.

Also in the substantial media coverage the 2015 event garnered, Alberto offered a small personal detail that reveals a lot about his family’s acceptance of his love for Glenn. “I’m wearing my grandfather’s wedding watch that my father lent to me for today’s occasion.”

Glenn added, “Today, it is so wonderful to be in the city that I was born and be an equal citizen, and not feel like a second-class citizen.”

A response to changing times

Regretfully, the threat of again becoming second-class citizens hangs heavy over the heads of LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. today.

That threat was one of the reasons Alberto and Glenn decided it was time to go somewhere new. They took the steps to obtain a Non-Lucrative (non-working) Visa in Spain, which is the same visa Ted and I are pursuing to reside legally here. The process took about six months. And now the two gentlemen are happily renovating an apartment that will be their permanent home in Alicante.

No doubt about it, Spain has welcomed them warmly.

They have welcomed us warmly, too. Here we are at a recent lunch of tamales, tostones, empanadas and other Puerto Rican fare at a restaurant in their neighborhood.

To us, Alberto and Glenn are living examples of the freedom and daily enchantment they say Alicante offers. And having made the leap successfully to a new life in Spain, they inspire us to make the leap, too.

Thank you, guys, for sharing your story with us.

Author’s Note: Alberto and Glenn are active members of Alicante Rainbow LGBTQ+, a vibrant ex-pat community that sponsors happy hours, game nights, hikes and other events. As they mention in the video interview, Raúl and Rob Pilling-Riefkohl and other members of the community have been instrumental in helping newcomers like us get their bearings in Alicante. We couldn’t agree more! In particular, Raúl and Alberto’s Spanish fluency has helped us greatly in making connections here.