Culture

Thousands take to streets in Madrid to protest anti-LGBTQ+ bill

By Zoya Raza-Sheikh

16th December 2021

Activists are protesting against Madrid’s plans to abolish a regional bill that ensures the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

The bill, proposed by Spain’s far-right VOX party, has faced immense backlash as it seeks to strip the LGBTQ+ community of its rights.

The right wing party is known for its nationalist, anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ+ views.

“Solidarity. Thousands of people gathered in Madrid, Spain, to protest against a bill proposed by the far-right VOX party. The bill aims to abolish a regional law that guarantees the rights of LGBT people,” activist Jerry Hicks posted. 

“This is a protest in Madrid against the far right VOX party who want to abolish a bill which guarantees the rights of LGBT people,” a user posted addressing the activist cause.

An LGBTQ+ activist platform titled the federation of trans collectives of the Spanish State, took to Twitter showcasing their support of the peaceful protest and their involvement.

“The Federation Platform Trans in the CONCENTRATION in Madrid, to tell the extreme right that OUR RIGHTS DO NOT TOUCH  To protect Trans and LGTBI Rights in all the Autonomous Communities, the approval of the Trans and LGTBI Rights Law is URGENT,” they tweeted. 

“I thought about what could have happened if I were alone rather than the fact that I was just assaulted. I thought about it in the next hours and the next day I reported to the national police because I felt not only assaulted but also abandoned by Madrid regional police,” Rebollero told Reuters while attending the protest.

Homophobic violence and anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes have been a growing focus following the tragic death of Samuel Luiz, which is believed to be a hate crime.

Earlier this year, waves of people filled Madrid to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community and to protest the death of a man over the weekend, Reuters reports.

24-year-old Samuel Luiz died over the weekend following an assault which many believe was an intentional homophobic attack.

Seven witnesses have reported Luiz was attacked by a group who fatally injured him after calling him a “fagg*t”, as reported by El Mundo newspaper.

Luiz was a young nurse who was killed in the early hours of Saturday in the northwestern city of A Coruna in Galicia.

Data, highlighted by Reuters, from the Interior Ministry, shows over 250 hate crimes related to sexual orientation or gender identity were reported in Spain in 2019.

Figures of reported hate and abuse crimes are expected to be higher. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has warned only a margin of these crimes are reported directly to the police.