Homosexuality was decriminalized in Spain in 1978, three years after the death of dictator Franco. The country has since become much more open, legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples in 2005
Many tens of thousands of people took to its streets Madrid last Saturday night to celebrate Pride, after two years of restrictions due to covid-19.
According to Madrid authorities, 600,000 to 700,000 people took part in the Pridewhich was broadcast live for the first time by one of Spain’s state television networks, TVE.
Many government ministers also participated in the march, including the Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande– Marlaska and the Minister of Equality Irene Montero.
Demonstrators, many of them carrying rainbow flags – a symbol of the LGBTQI+ community – flooded the streets of the Spanish capital behind a banner of Pride 2022 slogan: “Visibility, pride and resistance”.
Some held water pistols and got wet to deal with the heat. Others, bare-chested, danced to the sounds of Brazilian percussion or tecno.
Gender self-identification
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Spain in 1978, three years after the death of dictator Franco. The country has since become much more open, legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples in 2005.
Despite this, there is “exacerbated speech of hate”, underlined before the parade one of the organizing organizations, the Spanish LGBTI+ Confederation.
The homophobic speech “undermines the foundations of social coexistence” and “jeopardizes the progress made so far“, she emphasized, expressing her support for the so-called “trans” bill promoted by the government.
The bill this, which was adopted at the end of June by the cabinet and must be considered by parliament, allows a person to change their name and gender on their identity card by submitting a simple request as early as the age of 16.
It also provides that teenagers from the age of 12 will have this possibility, under certain conditions. At the moment this change can only be made by adults and after presenting a medical opinion and after having undergone hormone therapy for at least two years.
If adopted, the bill would make Spain one of the few countries in the world to allow gender self-determination.
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