The war around the rainbow flag that splashed Spain yesterday in the institutions where Vox has power goes far beyond symbology. On the day of LGTBI Pride and before the elections of 23-J that point towards a possible pact between the PP and Vox, Spain, a pioneer in the extension of rights, made it clear that it will fight in this campaign. Faced with the threat to the rights conquered, the Government indicated that it represents this open and plural Spain. And the PP distanced itself from the extreme right with its own manifesto. But the agreements with Vox, and what they begin to mean, weigh.
What happened yesterday in Castilla y León shows the framework of the campaign. The presidency of Parliament, in the hands of Vox and opposed to the LGTBI flag flying, sent a request to the PSOE to remove the banner that hung between various windows of the institution. Meanwhile, the PP in Castilla y León defended the “vindication and just cause” of the defense of the rights of these groups. In Burgos and Valladolid, where after 28-M Vox governs with the PP, the rainbow banner did not wave either. Nor did he do it either, continuing with these examples, in the Balearic Parliament and the Valencian Community.
The controversy of the flags -as a symbol of the demand for equal rights- adds to the first movements in the PP-Vox coalitions around equality policies -with the disappearance of councilors- and the denial of violence against gender -in the pact in the Valencian Community-. From the Government, Vice President Nadia Calviño indicated that the moment parties like Vox come to government, the first thing they do is restrict human rights and the rights of women and LGTBI groups. For her part, Yolanda Díaz pointed out that the multicolored flag is “a symbol of freedom” and removing it is a huge setback that “wants to place the country in black Spain.” The mayor of Barcelona, ??Jaume Collboni, who is a member of the collective, called to fight for these rights in the elections.
This appeal to the threat of a return to a “black Spain” was a constant in the ranks of the left formations. And the PP wants to distance itself from the network that, as in matters of gender equality, Vox weaves. Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party defended in its manifesto Spanish society that “has spent years uniting its voices in favor of the right of each one to be and feel what they want”. The popular want to stop assimilating them with Vox after the pacts after 28-M.
The headquarters of the PP in Madrid did not wear the rainbow banner but it was illuminated at night with these colors. A strategy also followed by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, with the lighting of the façade in Cibeles. Also the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has opted for night lights. It is not the same as hanging the banner in an institutional building.
Without concessions to the interpretation, the Vox candidate, Santiago Abascal, indicated in statements to RTVE that he had no intention of celebrating Pride Day- “I did not plan it because I am straight,” he said. There are also many homosexuals who do not celebrate this day, who do not reduce their being to their sexual desire. Regarding gender violence, he said he was ignorant of the Istanbul Convention, which establishes the bases for the fight against sexist violence.
In this perspective of possible alliances on the right, the great advances in favor of LGTBI rights that have placed Spain in the number 4 position in the world are remembered. The Equal Marriage Law (2005), the Equality Law (2007) and the Trans Law (2023) have marked this path.
