The Supreme Court of Castilla y León (TSJCyL) has confirmed that the previous Valladolid City Council placed the LGTBI flag in the city hall building in 2021 and 2022. The ultra-Catholic association Christian Lawyers had denounced that the town hall, under the direction of the PSOE and Valladolid Take the Word, is placing the rainbow banner on the balcony of the property. The ruling states that public authorities must “promote recognition”. […] of LGTBI people” and rejects the alleged violation of “institutional neutrality” that the reactionary platform claimed. PP and Vox, which have formed a coalition since May, did not hang this banner at the last Pride.
The autonomous Supreme Court has ratified the decision of the previous municipal body, understanding that this symbol contributes to the visibility of LGBTBI people and recalling that the legislation determines how institutions must spread the values of equality. “If the law assumes and provides that public authorities must promote institutional recognition and participation in commemorations of the specified struggle, [colocar la bandera] It could be agreed that this is the most expressive and congruent way of showing both institutional recognition and said participation simultaneously and in a single act. Christian lawyers have challenged the presence of the banners in court in the days before and after, in 2021 and 2022, up to June 28, World LGBTI Pride Day.
The TSJCyL also does not consider it true that these multicolored banners “violate the asserted principles of objectivity and political neutrality,” as claimed by the complainants, who insisted on the illegality of placing unofficial symbols in public places such as a town hall. According to this reactionary group, whose arguments have been refuted by the judiciary, “the LGTBI flag is clearly an ideological flag, since it is integrated into the programs and speeches of some political parties, while at the same time it is rejected by others, making it a…” controversial Topic in “Spanish society”. The lawsuit, the judges say in their reasoning, does not violate the “legal system” and states that “it can hardly be assumed that the administrations that take this position violate the principles of objectivity and political neutrality asserted violated.”
The high autonomous court quoted in its decree a part of the so-called Trans Law, adopted this year, as it states in Article 5 that “the public authorities will promote institutional recognition and participation in commemorative events of the struggle for equality. “Real and effective protection of LGTBI people,” which provides legal protection for the placement of rainbow flags on city hall balconies.
Political confrontation over the LGTBI flag
This legal dispute joins other disputes over LGTBI symbols. The new coalitions between PP and Vox after the local elections last May led to the removal of these flags during Pride in city councils such as Valladolid or Burgos, where they dissolved the PSOE and its policy of placing representative flags. The new mayor of Valladolid, Jesús Julio Carnero (PP), attributed the measure to the fact that only the official banners and no symbols of other causes would be displayed during the legislative period, although he claimed in his leadership of the Valladolid Provincial Council to “continue “. talk about equality” and yes, he placed the rainbow banner on public property. However, when Carnero no longer commanded this unit, the city’s Dispute Administrative Court 3 in 2020 accepted a complaint from Christian Lawyers to remove the banner to preserve “the duty of objectivity and neutrality,” considering that the legislature did not allows this symbology to be hung in such institutional spaces.
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The PP-Vox alliance, which has governed the Junta de Castilla y León since spring 2022, also did not allow the Cortes building to be illuminated in the rainbow color to commemorate Pride, as was the case when the PP governed. Neither in his first nor in this second year in office did he agree to this, which went so far that the President of Parliament Carlos Pollán (Vox) threatened to send security teams to remove some LGTBI banners placed in the windows by the PSOE. their offices. After all, they were not removed by force, but rather the socialists dismantled them after these dates expired.
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