Another frontal attack on freedom of expression: A ruling by the Spanish high court prevents the placement of all kinds of unofficial symbols. What will happen next June 28? Will the City Councils dare to challenge the Supreme?
Gayles.tv.- The Supreme Court prohibits the use of unofficial flags outside the Public Buildings based on a ruling on the display of the Canarian tricolor flag at the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council in 2016. A pronouncement that also opens the door for public administrations to not hang other unofficial symbols, such as the LGTBI flag.
The use of unofficial flags that "concur with the flag of Spain" is prohibited
Furthermore, the effects of the resolution of the opinion not only remain here, but also prevent the use of unofficial flags that "concur with the flag of Spain and other legally or statutory instituted". The third chamber of the high court states that its use "is not compatible with the current constitutional and legal framework, and in particular, with the duty of objectivity and neutrality of Public Administrations."
The sentence, of which the magistrate has been a speaker Celsa peak, stresses that all administrations, including the municipal one, have to respect the legal system, “without the agreement, even if voted by the majority of political groups, being incorporated into the competence framework established by article 25 of Law 7/1985 , of April 2, Regulator of the Bases of the Local Regime ».
The case dates back to September 2016 when the full City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife he recognized the national flag of the Canary Islands (one that has seven green stars) as one of the symbols of the Canarian people and consequently raised it near the outside of the building, just in front of the facade. A decision that caused controversy but that finally in 2017 the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands ended up agreeing with the city council, seeing the use of the unofficial symbol as a fact that was perfectly contemplated within the framework of Spanish institutional legality.
We see once again that the Supreme follows the guidelines of the extreme right and bows to the mandate of Vox, which maintains that the only banner to be flown is the Spanish flag.
We recover the World Pride Madrid video with Manuela Carmena in front of the Madrid City Council, just three years ago.
What will happen next June 28? Will the Councils dare to challenge the Supreme? Will the judgment be appealed? And how are we going to react?
Reactions to the Supreme Court ruling
Communiqué from the National LGBTI Council of Catalonia (June 2, 2020)
Traducción:
Barcelona, June 2, 2020
In front of the Supreme Court resolution prohibiting hanging “unofficial” flags in town halls and public buildings, from the LGBTI National Council we denounce what we consider a new attack on freedom of expression by an increasingly heightened judicial leadership in its Resolutions towards retrograde and fundamentalist positions, a judicial leadership that, we do not forget, should have been renewed according to the law they claim to protect, a few years ago. To prevent city councils from hanging the Rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBTI rights throughout the world, we believe that it violates the right of expression of society as a whole, since, under the protection of a supposed institutional “neutrality”, we detect an attempt at uniformitarianism and to silence any type of diversity and dissent. For this reason, we urge the Congress of Deputies and the Constitutional Court so that, from the legislative perspective the first and the second legal, they amend and correct a sentence that we consider completely aberrant and incompatible with the freedom of expression of the peoples. Likewise, we ask all the municipalities of Catalonia that on June 28, International LGBTI Liberation Day, they look for imaginative ways to publicly demonstrate their commitment to the fight for the rights of LGBTI people. We must continue to fight for a fully democratic society and prevent any court from further diminishing freedom of expression. CC Consell Nacional LGBTI.
