Madrid (EFE).- To hang or not to hang, that is the question this June 28, LGTBI+ Pride Day, the date on which public institutions and administrations place rainbow flags on their facades as a sign of support for the collective, which this 2023 The number of symbols has been reduced as a result of the entry of Vox in town halls and regional parliaments.
The alliance of the Santiago Abascal party and the PP after the municipal and regional elections has led to the disappearance of Equality ministries and announcements of reform of trans laws, but also that many consistories and regional chambers have woken up without rainbow flags.
Castilla y León, without flag
In the Cortes of Castilla y León, the first institution that Vox presided over, the flag has not been placed for the second consecutive year, but the PSOE has hung one on the outside balcony of its parliamentary group.
The president of the regional parliament, Carlos Pollán (Vox), has threatened first to send the security services to remove it if the Socialists did not do so and, later, to denounce the PSOE leader, Luis Tudanca, but after the morning the ensign was still on the balcony of his group.
Something similar has happened in the Valladolid City Council, where the government team made up of PP and Vox has decided not to place the LGTBI+ emblem in the Town Hall, before which the councilors of the Valladolid Toma La Palabra formation have hung the flag on the window of his office.
Madrid does not hang a flag but illuminates the Cibeles
In Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida already made the decision years ago not to hang this symbol in the City Hall, using the Supreme Court ruling that established that unofficial flags cannot be used outside public buildings as an argument.
However, this Wednesday the façade of the city council and the Cibeles fountain will again be illuminated with the LGTBI+ colors.
In various Madrid town halls such as Alcalá de Henares, Algete or Boadilla del Monte, its alliance with Vox has also led the popular to remove the rainbow flag from the balconies, but the PP has decided to distance itself and illuminate its LGTBI+ colors for the first time national headquarters in Génova street in Madrid.
The PP hangs the flag in its town halls
He has also hung the flag in municipalities where he governs alone, such as Valencia, Zaragoza or Logroño, where yesterday it was withdrawn for a few hours due to a legal claim from the Christian Lawyers association.
The same has happened in Santa Cruz de Bezana, the only Cantabrian municipality governed since the constitution of the municipalities by a team made up of PP and Vox, which this Wednesday has hung the LGTBI+ flag on its balcony as a “reminder” that this municipality will continue “watching over” the rights of all, in the words of the mayoress of the municipality, Carmen Pérez (PP).
Faced with this situation, the president of the popular, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has tweeted to congratulate the day and has stressed: “Freedom is to be able to choose. We celebrate the recognition of diversity and that each one decides who they want to accompany them in their lives”.
Because, flags aside, on social networks the majority of political leaders have spoken out in favor of equality, with some silences and the discordant note from Vox.
The messages of the institutions
The Ministry of Equality and its head, Irene Montero, have called for a “happy and combative” Pride Day and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has shown his pride in belonging to an “open, cheerful and diverse” country and has underlined the message with which the PSOE wants to face Vox’s speech: “Not a step back”.
Autonomous governments such as those of Catalonia, Andalusia, Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha and the Valencian Community (acting) have done the same, while the official profiles of the Junta de Castilla y León, where PP and Vox govern, the Community of Madrid and its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, have not released any message in this regard.
Also PSOE and PP, as well as Sumar and Yolanda Díaz, have spoken on networks and in videos for equality and the rights of the LGTBI+ collective, while the Vox candidate for the presidency of the Government, Santiago Abascal, has said in an interview on TVE that does not celebrate Pride Day, among other reasons, because he is heterosexual.
Abascal has attacked LGTBI+ “lobbies” and has assured that “many homosexuals” do not share the opinion that there is “a special day of celebration”, to which he has downplayed “importance”.