While 77 countries around the world banned homosexuality, Catalonia became a pioneer in defending the rights of the LGBTI community. On October 2, 2014, the then President of Parliament, Núria de Gispert, announced that the Catalan law against LGTBIphobia had been approved. The podium erupted with cheers, applause and hugs after a vote that culminated more than 30 years of struggle.
Dozens of LGBTI activists attended what they called a “historic day” at Parliament. They celebrated that Catalonia had the first law in Spain and one of the first in the world to include a regime of sanctions against discrimination and attacks based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “In this small part of the world we have a vaccine against LGTBIphobia,” Eugeni Rodríguez, president of the FAGC, said at the time.
The law was approved almost unanimously, with the votes of the PSC, ICV, ERC, CUP, Ciudadanos and Convergència, which on this occasion voted separately from Unió. The Christian Democrats rejected certain articles of the law, but the PP was the only one to give a categorical “no” to the law. “The negotiations were very complicated,” recalls Anna Simó, former municipal councilor and ERC MP. She was the Republican responsible for defending the standard before Parliament and negotiating with other groups.
We told Convergència that it could not vote against a law that would imply an increase in rights for all.
Anna Simó
— Former ERC MP and Law President
The law against LGTBIphobia is an initiative of the tripartite parties, who included it in their electoral program, and the CUP. The big unknown was therefore CiU, which then assumed the presidency of the government with Artur Mas at its head and with the support of the PP. “It took a long time to convince them,” explains Simó, who emphasizes that the main thing was that the initiative was carried out by the entities of the LGTBI community.
The interlocutors of Convergència were the deputies Jordi Turull and Violant Cervera. “We told them that they could not vote against a law that would increase the rights of all,” remembers Simó, who also recognizes the importance of Miquel Iceta in the negotiation. The praise is mutual. “Anna Simó brought us a lot of experience and knowledge. It was a great joint effort,” said the socialist.
The promoter of the law within the PSC was the current mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, but when he resigned his seat to enter municipal politics, Iceta inherited the mission of negotiating and defending the regulation . “I saved this intervention in Parliament,” he said. “It was very important for me, an openly gay MP, to be able to dismantle the controversies and hoaxes around the group.”
The day was special, not only because they were about to approve the first one that included a sanctions framework, but also because it was about to mark 15 years since Iceta’s release. “It was all very symbolic and special. It’s because of things like that that I got into politics. “We were pioneers in demanding the right to be free and without obstacles,” says the former MP.
It was very important for me, an openly gay MP, to be able to dismantle the controversies and hoaxes surrounding the group.
Michael Iceta
— Former CPS MP and law lecturer
The first sanctions regime
One of the most notable and innovative aspects of the law is that it reverses the burden of proof, making it one of the first regulations to establish that it is not the victim who is responsible for prove the wrong, but rather the perpetrator who is responsible for proving his innocence. This and the sanctions regime have made the Catalan law against LGTBIphobia a pioneering text, which condemns insults, discrimination and attacks with fines of between 756 and 7,560 euros, as well as the impossibility of receiving subsidies and to apply for public contracts.
Designing the sanctions regime was a “complex” task, as negotiators remember. “We protected him a lot so that he would not be overthrown because he exceeded the powers of the Generalitat,” Iceta remembers. This is why the sanctions are administrative and cover areas such as education or health, but not work, where competence lies with the State. “We went as far as we could,” explains Simó.
Both consider that the law is complete, but emphasize that for it to be fully deployed, “political will” is required since, in the case of administrative sanctions, fines must be imposed by the Public Administration. In this sense, it should be noted that, although the law had the support of Convergència, the Mas government did not impose any sanctions in the remaining two years of the legislature. The first arrived in 2016, already with the JxYes government, and came from an ERC department.
That year, 39 incidents were reported, far from the 351 in 2023. Both the government and the entities insist on recalling that this increase does not necessarily mean that there are more attacks, but rather greater confidence in administrations and in the reporting process. In fact, a fact that stands out and is celebrated by the group is that, for the first time since the entry into force of the law, the number of incidents received by the Generalitat is equal to that received by the social entities.
The Observatory against LGTBIphobia previously received between 30 and 50% more complaints than the Generalitat. “Those affected generally do not trust the administration,” laments Jordi Samsó, spokesperson for the LGTBI Platform of Catalonia. Now, training received by both police forces and workers in the education, leisure and health sectors has helped victims feel “safer and supported” during the reporting process.
Despite this improvement, it is still not enough, as highlighted by the Minister of Equality and Feminism, Eva Menor, who announced that the government was already working on a reform of the law to adapt it to the framework Spanish and European regulations. Likewise, it plans to provide it with a “useful” sanctions regime which offers more “measures of protection, support and repair of damage”.
New times, new rights
The majority of LGTBI entities consider that these ten years of law have been “positive” and “beneficial”, but they agree that reform is necessary. Samsó believes that there are areas in which more should be done, such as the elderly or health, where “there is still a lot of discrimination against trans people, non-binary people and lesbian women”.
Regarding the first point, the new councilor has already announced that she will promote a specific plan for LGTBI seniors, but the executive of Salvador Illa has not yet clarified what would happen to the trans bill that the executive precedent had left in preparation before the elections. “It is important that this does not remain in a drawer,” insist the entities.
Another point that, according to the group, needs to be improved to adapt the law to new times is “the persecution of hatred on social networks”. According to the LGTBI Platform, this is where the most insults and verbal attacks occur. “There is impunity when it comes to transmitting certain messages and this greatly affects young people and adolescents,” explains Samsó, who regrets that this influence is perceptible in classrooms.
“Dad, dyke or travolo are still very common insults,” explains the activist, who assures that there are verbal and physical attacks every day for reasons of sexual orientation or gender identity. But he refuses to be alarmist and assures that every day there are people who come out of the closet and “dare to live in freedom”.
There is impunity when it comes to transmitting certain messages and this greatly affects young people and adolescents.
Jordi Samso
— Spokesperson for the LGTBI Platform of Catalonia
Samsó insists on denying that there has been a setback in the rights of LGTBI people. “There is a long way to go, but this path is better today than yesterday. We have laws that protect us and there is greater social awareness,” he emphasizes. And he is convinced that, even if today there is a presence of far-right parties in Parliament, the rights of the LGTBI community have become such a “minimal consensus” that the law would be approved again.
