Great controversy arose over the international Gay Pride Day that Spain celebrated on June 28. Many Spanish municipalities flew the LGBT flag on this day. However, Vox managed to ban this several times this year in various Spanish municipalities.
The far-right party managed this last week when it reached an agreement with the Partido Popular banning the rainbow flag in the Spanish city of Náquera, Valencia. Vox has since been determined to ban the LGBT flag in municipalities where they are in power.
Vox was already successful in a handful of Spanish municipalities
This year, the party also succeeded in achieving this in Torrijos (Castile-La Mancha) and in Toledo (Madrid). In Castile y León, the flag was hanging from the Cortes building and Vox called in the police and wanted to press charges that local government agencies broke the law by displaying the LGBT flag.
Now the far-right party not only wants to implement this further in cities in which the party has seats in the city council, but also in municipal and regional governments of which the party is not a part. This is also the case in Mérida (Extremadura) where the PSOE rules but Vox demands that the LGBT flags attached to the town hall be removed.
Vox screens with ruling Spanish Supreme Court
“The facade is covered with flags that do not belong to what the Supreme Court and the Constitution propagate. If we break this law now, tomorrow they can also hang flags for pedophiles on the building for our children and grandchildren to look at.” With this action, Vox council member Francisco Piñol refers to an earlier Supreme Court ruling from 2020.
With this statement, Vox has gained even more opponents by comparing the LGBT target group to pedophiles. Various authorities are now threatening to raise this with the Public Prosecution Service.
Several councilors claim that Vox’s ruling makes no sense and that it does not correspond with what the Supreme Court is propagating. According to them, the ruling meant that unofficial flags, such as those of the LGBT target group, should not hang next to official flags, such as flags of countries, regions or municipalities. Legally, there would be enough space to place LGBT flags elsewhere on a facade.
