The FEMP urges local governments to join the voices calling for freedom and equality.
"The rights of LGBTI people are protected under existing international human rights law, although specific measures are often required to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBI) people fully enjoy their human rights. LGBTI people have the same rights as everyone else; no new human rights are created for them, nor should any of them be denied to them.."
Guidelines to promote and protect the enjoyment of all human rights by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons Council of the European Union - 24 June 2013.
On December 6, 1978, the Spanish people ratified the Spanish Constitution in a referendum, marking the beginning of a new era in our history in which public authorities must promote the conditions for real and effective individual freedom and equality, facilitating the participation of all citizens in political, economic, cultural, and social life, without discrimination based on birth, race, sex, religion, opinion, or any other personal or social condition or circumstance.
20 days later, on December 26, 1978, the crime of homosexuality was eliminated from Law 16/1970, of August 4, on Dangerousness and Social Rehabilitation, which recognized as “[…] cases of dangerousness […] habitual vagrants, ruffians and pimps […] and those who perform acts of homosexuality” (art. 2.3) and which established penalties ranging from fines to five years of confinement in prisons or psychiatric centers for their “rehabilitation.”
With its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on January 11, 1979, 40 years ago, homosexuality was declared illegal in Spain. A month later, in February 1979, people imprisoned for their sexual and gender identity were released, bringing an end to decades of contempt, humiliation, imprisonment, and criminalization. Despite this, LGBTQI+ people continued to be persecuted under the Public Scandal Law, amended in 1983 and repealed in 1989.
With this reminder, the FEMP joins, once again, in the commemoration of International LGBTIQ Pride Day, renewing the commitment of local authorities to equal treatment and opportunities, recognizing the decisive contribution that the Spanish Constitution has made to coexistence, social cohesion and the advancement of our society and highlighting the progress that has been achieved, over the past 40 years, in favor of the social normalization of those who have a sexual orientation different from the majority and/or identify and express themselves with a gender other than the one socially assigned to them.
Thus, over the past 40 years, Spanish local governments have made equality and non-discrimination one of their priority areas of action, making efforts to develop measures that address the real needs of all people, promoting respectful actions, recognizing fundamental rights as such, and fostering full protection against discrimination.
At the municipal level, local governments reach out to citizens and provide awareness-raising and educational tools to eradicate any form of anti-LGBTQI expression from our society, whether in the family, school, workplace, social, cultural, economic, and political spheres.
For all these reasons, the Local Governments gathered in the FEMP:
- We invite all local authorities to endorse this Declaration, and we join all those calling for a future of equality for all people, regardless of their sexual and/or gender identity and sexual orientation.
- We express our commitment to the principle of the universality of human rights and reject any appeal to ideological, cultural, traditional, or religious values to justify any type of discrimination.
- We strongly condemn all forms of violence, including physical and verbal violence, humiliation, and contempt based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
- We demand the development and implementation of a multi-year European policy to protect the fundamental rights of LGBTQI+ people, paying special attention to multiple discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
- We demand, in line with the various resolutions approved by the European Parliament, the need to have formal mechanisms for regularly collecting relevant and comparable data on the situation of LGBTQI+ people and the violence they suffer. This will allow us to diagnose the situation in our country and identify the real needs toward which we should direct our policies.
- We recognize the contributions, work, and efforts that have been made and continue to be made by third-sector organizations working for equality, in defense of human rights, and in the promotion and protection of the fundamental rights of LGBTQI people.
- We reaffirm the need to invest in policies that support sexual diversity and the non-discrimination of people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity through the development of programs and projects for care, information, training, awareness, and sensitization, which make our cities and towns safe spaces for sexual diversity in all its manifestations.
- We affirm that equality policies are not possible without local governments and we demand the need to provide local authorities with sufficient funding to carry out their responsibilities in this area, allowing us to ensure the proper implementation of all the initiatives necessary to guarantee effective equality for all people in all Spanish municipalities.
