BARCELONA LGBT MEMORIAL UNVEILED

Barcelona’s Mayor Jordi Hereu has dedicated a new memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people who have been persecuted.

One of the proposed locations for the memorial was the square outside the famous Sagrada Familia basilica, but this was scrapped, in part due to opposition from the Catholic Church.

Instead, the memorial, which consists of a granite triangle framed in pink, was placed in the city’s central Ciutadella Park.

An inscription in Catalan on the memorial reads: “In memory of the gays, lesbians and transsexual persons who have suffered persecution and repression throughout history, Barcelona 2011.”

Hundreds of people watched as Hereu spoke about the history of Barcelona as a haven for persecuted groups and individuals, and for the city’s respect for LGBT people.

After the ceremony, local LGBT groups left flowers around the monument.

A similar memorial was unveiled in Amsterdam in September 1987, while other European cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt and the Hague have also erected monuments to LGBT victims of the holocaust.

Same-sex marriage and gay and lesbian adoption are legal in Spain, which decriminalised homosexuality in 1979.