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Is Spain really a tolerant country when it comes to LGBTIQ+ people?

Spain consistently ranks among the most gay-friendly countries in the world according to international studies. But is this lack of prejudice in Spanish society real or just visible on paper?

Published: 7 July 2021 12:57 CEST
Updated: 28 June 2022 15:23 CEST
Is Spain really a tolerant country when it comes to LGBTIQ+ people?
People take part in a Pride march in Madrid on July 3, 2021. (Photos by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

Spain has undoubtedly come a long way from the days of Franco’s dictatorship, when homosexuality was classified as “a danger”.

At the time, gay men were sent to so-called galerías de invertidos (prisons for ‘inverts’). 

Spain’s most celebrated poet Federico García Lorca was shot dead by nationalist forces in 1936 because of this sexuality.

Once Spain became a democratic country, same-sex sexual intercourse was legalised in 1979 and gay marriage and adoption were legalised in 2005, the third country in the world to do so.

In a 2017 interview in El País, Podemos founder Luis Alegre said Spain was “the most tolerant country in the world when it comes to homosexuality”.

In the same year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported a large increase in the number of asylum applications for Spain from LGBTIQ+ people escaping persecution, a legal option made available to refugees by the Spanish government in 2009.

According to a 2019 study into the global acceptance of homosexuality by the US’s Pew Research Centre, Spain was the third most gay-friendly country in the world after Sweden and the Netherlands. Two years earlier, it was top of the ranking. 

From a legal standpoint, we could continue to name progressive bills that further cement Spain’s image as a tolerant country when it comes to LGBTI people, the latest being the Spanish government’s decision to allow anyone aged 16 or older to easily change their gender on their ID documents.

But is this lack of prejudice in Spanish society real or just visible on paper?

In 2021, the homophobic murder of a young man over Gay Pride weekend shocked a country regarded internationally as one of the most tolerant when it comes to LGBTIQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex and Queer) rights.

It prompted a wave of protests across Spain just as low-key Pride celebrations (as a result of Covid-19 restrictions) had wrapped up across a number of cities.

The timing of this heinous crime brought to light a worrying trend which according to Spanish Interior Ministry stats has been on the up recently: hate crimes against the LBGTIQ+ community.

Generally speaking, hate crimes due to sexual orientation or gender identity have risen in Spain in recent years.

The rate was higher between 2016 and 2019 (going from 169 to 278) although they did drop in 2020 and 2021 in most regions, largely due to the pandemic and limited social interactions.

However, according to Catalonia’s Observatory against Homophobia, in 2022 LGBTI hate crimes have skyrocketed again by 70 percent in 2022 across Spain.

A member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) community wears a sticker on his chest reading “Stop Homophobia” during the annual Pride parade in Madrid, on July 6, 2019. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

There are dozens of stories of homophobic attacks and insults from all across Spain, and although social media helps to bring attention to these crimes, many remain unreported. 

Politically speaking, there is one big change according to the experts.

“In Spain, people with a favourable opinion of the Vox party, which recently has begun to openly oppose some gay rights, are much less likely to say that homosexuality is acceptable than those who do not support the party,” the PEW Research Centre’s last report highlighted.

According to Barcelona City Councilor for Citizen Rights Marc Serra there’s a “certain normalisation of the intolerance rhetoric towards the LGBTIQ+ collective in the media and institutions due to the appearance of the far right”, something that is happening throughout Europe”.

 LGBTIphobia observatories have found that most of the attackers are males aged under 30. 

Even though the Spanish government continues to take steps towards more equality for different LGBTIQ+ collectives – most recently with its ‘Trans Law’ – these increasingly common hate crimes are tarnishing Spain’s image as a tolerant country.

However, Spanish society remains firmly against LGBTIQphobia, with 89 percent accepting homosexuality according to the Pew Research Centre and Spain being crowned world leader for transgender rights in a 2018 Ipsos study.

According to 2021 Ipsos data, Spain is also the third country in the world and the first in Europe with the highest number of people who don’t consider themselves heterosexual (78 percent consider themselves straight, 12 percent they have another sexual orientation, 10 percent would rather not comment). 

Six out every ten Spaniards say they have a relationship/friendship with people from the LGBTIQ+ collective, one in every five have attended Pride celebrations, 76 percent are in favour of gay marriage and 73 percent believe the LGBTIQ+ should be open about their sexuality (highest of all 27 countries surveyed). 

It’s perhaps this increasing openness and tolerance among the majority of Spanish society, and the freedom that this brings to the LGBTIQ+ community, that is triggering the select few bigoted people in Spain to turn to violence and homophobia. 

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SPANISH TRADITIONS

Everything you need to know about Mother’s Day in Spain

Here's how and when in May Mother's Day is celebrated in Spain, and why it owes its roots to religion and a Valencian poet.

Published: 3 May 2024 13:37 CEST
Everything you need to know about Mother's Day in Spain

This year, Mother’s Day (El Día de la Madre) is celebrated in Spain on Sunday May 5th. It’s always celebrated on the first Sunday of the month of May.

On this day, young children in Spain give their mothers manualidades (crafts) they’ve made at school as a token of their love.

Husbands and older sons and daughters may buy their wives/mothers a present to say thanks for all that they do as matriarchs, which usually takes the form of a detalle (smaller present than for a birthday or Christmas), and will come accompanied by a message such as te quiero, mamá (I love you, mum).

According to experiences website Aladinia, the average Spaniards spends €65 on gifts on Mother’s Day. 

Other mums may send out text messages to wish each other ¡Feliz Día de la Madre! (Happy Mother’s Day!).

As it’s always celebrated on a Sunday, many shops will be closed but you can expect plenty of restaurants to be open for lunch and perhaps dinner. 

Depending where you’re from, the first Sunday of May may or may not be when you’re used to celebrating Mother’s Day in your home country.

Around the world over 100 countries celebrate Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday, more on the difference below) – 77 in May, 13 in March, and 14 at other times during the year.

Some countries, like the UK, celebrate Mothering Sunday on the fourth Sunday during Lent, meaning that the date changes each year. This is because Mothering Sunday was originally a Christian holiday in some European countries.

READ ALSO: How a female teacher campaigned for Spain to have a Father’s Day

Spain, however, celebrates Mother’s Day on the first Sunday in May each year, meaning that it doesn’t have a fixed date either. But it wasn’t always like that.

The history of Mother’s Day in Spain

The first Mother’s Day in Spain was celebrated in Madrid all the way back on October 4th, 1926. Much of the impetus for establishing a day to celebrate mothers came, rather fittingly, from a poet.

Julio Menéndez García, a Valencian poet and public servant, pushed for a special day to celebrate mothers. Spanish newspaper La Libertad published a short section on Garcìa’s efforts in October 1925:

“A Levantine poet, Julio Menéndez García, has had the happy initiative that in Spain and in the Spanish-speaking nations a day should be consecrated to extol the love of mothers. The establishment of Mother’s Day is something tender and sympathetic, which deserves to be welcomed by governments, the press and public opinion, as it involves the highest tribute to women in their most august representation.”

After the Civil War, the church moved the date to December 8th to coincide with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a key holiday among Catholics. 

Civil War-era poster urging Madrid mothers to leave the Spanish capital with their children before the arrival of Franco’s troops. (Photo by AFP)

But it wasn’t until 1965 that Mother’s Day was celebrated in May in Spain. The reason for this change of date was to separate the celebrations (both were considered important enough to have their own day) but also the influence of other countries, namely the United States.

The campaign for a Mother’s Day was originally started by Anna Jarvis, an American wanting to honour her mother, in 1908. By 1914, US President Woodrow Wilson officially signed it into law, establishing a May date. 

However, for many years in Spain department store El Corte Inglés maintained the date of 8th December, meaning that Spain Mother’s Day was celebrated twice a year for a while, commercially speaking at least.

In 1936 a local council in Breña Baja, on the Canary island of La Palma, became the first in Spain to move Mother’s Day to May.

However, in 1965 the church authorities officially decided to move Mother’s Day to May, a month consecrated to the Virgin Mary. May is also the month of female gods in the classical world, and in Catholicism is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Interestingly, Jarvis herself later campaigned against the day, arguing it had become overly commercialised, something Spaniards often bemoan about other imported American customs like Halloween and Valentine’s Day. 

READ ALSO: How a female teacher campaigned for Spain to have a Father’s Day

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