International Pride Day celebrated with colourful events in many towns across Malaga province

International LGTB Pride Day is celebrated on 28 June every year, ever since 1969 when the New York Police raided the Stonewall Inn gay bar in Greenwich Village. The police action triggered several demonstrations in protest at the raid, and these eventually made their way around the world.

This week many municipalities in Malaga province also joined the celebration of this anniversary with different activities, although the readings of manifestos in support of the LGBT cause particularly stood out.

In Malaga the manifesto referenced the appearance of a poster in a university residence in the city that offered 20 euros for "each patient captured" referring to homosexual people. "The levels of violence, hate crimes, harassment in educational centres and discrimination in employment are intolerable," the statement continued. A bench painted in the rainbow colours of the LGBT community was also unveiled.

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Despite the fact that Torremolinos had already celebrated its special week dedicated to this group, the town held a commemorative gala at the Pablo Ruiz Picasso Cultural Centre which included dance and music.

In Fuengirola, the mayor, Ana Mula, read an institutional statement. In addition, three rainbow flags were raised at the entrance of the town hall. Meanwhile, in Coín the façade of the town hall was illuminated with the colours of the rainbow.

In Ronda, Pride Day was marked with two acts, one by the Serranía Diverxa Association and another by the town council. LGBT manifestos were also read out in Nerja, Marbella, Ahaurín el Grande, Marbella and Teba.

An investigation has found that social media networks in Spain have been filled with more hate messages against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans people in recent years.

The analysis of twelve million digital conversations related to the LGBT community since 2019 was carried out by a communication consultancy. It examined messages on 780,000 Spanish digital profiles using 'big data' techniques and artificial intelligence. It found online attacks have increased by 132% since 2019 while positive comments towards the LGBT community fell by 15%. The increase in haters is the largest detected by analysts in the 12 areas where the same type of research was carried out - including the US, Mexico, eight states of Central and South America and Portugal.