The LGTBI+ association Lánzate has described as a "hate act" the vandalization of a bench painted with the LGTBI flag in Haría. The object, located in the coastal town of Punta Mujeres, was graffitied with a swastika and the phrase "long live Vox" a little more than two months after it was customized with the rainbow flag.
"This bench is not just any furniture: its inauguration was part of an institutional commitment to make diversity visible and to offer a public symbol of respect towards the LGTBI+ collective," the association recalled in a statement. In the words of the municipality itself at the presentation ceremony on June 17, on the occasion of Pride, it was “a gesture of shared Pride, a visible reminder that equality is defended in common spaces.”
"A canvas of hate"
"This bench was inaugurated in June as a symbol of respect and institutional commitment to LGTBI+ rights. Turning it into a canvas of hate is an offense to the memory of those who fought before us and a reminder of why it is necessary to continue defending our spaces. Lanzarote is a diverse island and we will not allow fear or intolerance to erase what we have conquered," said Montse Cedrés, president of Lánzate.
Pink triangles to mark homosexuals during Nazism
For this association, "the choice of symbols used in this attack is not accidental." As La Voz recalled, the swastika was resignified by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime and converted into the emblem of a totalitarian system responsible for the Holocaust, which exterminated six million Jews and persecuted millions more. Among them, Lánzate has recalled that Nazism persecuted homosexual people, who were marked with a pink triangle in concentration camps. Its current use by ultra and far-right groups seeks to perpetuate that legacy of hatred and violence.
The phrase “long live Vox” accompanying the swastika has added "an obvious political component" for the group. In this way, the association indicates that it "connects the vandalism with discourses of the contemporary far right, which promote regressive and hostile policies towards human rights, especially those of the LGTBI+ collective."
An attack on diversity
"Lanzarote is no stranger to the appearance of ultra symbols in public spaces, although this case has an added seriousness by attacking an official symbol of Pride and diversity," he continued.
From the island's associations and from different institutions, concern has already been expressed about the proliferation of this type of message. The recent Island Pact against Hate Speech, signed in June 2024, takes on special relevance in this context, since it establishes a firm commitment from institutions, groups and civil society to reject these expressions and defend safe spaces for all people.
"We are not talking about a simple graffiti, but a direct attack against diversity and coexistence in Lanzarote. The swastika is a symbol linked to extermination and hatred, and painting it on a bench that represents Pride is an act that hurts the entire society, not only the LGTBI+ collective. From Lánzate we reiterate that we will not take a step back: in the face of hatred, we are not going to allow them to break our social balance, our true Pride,” says Nahum Cabrera, manager of Lánzate
The benches with the LGTBI+ flag distributed throughout different municipalities are much more than paint: they represent the memory of those who were persecuted, the conquest of rights that took decades of struggle and the recognition of diversity as a social value. Vandalizing them is an attempt to make them invisible, to sow fear and to reverse those advances.
In the face of hatred, more pride
However, the citizen response has always been clear: in the face of hatred, more pride; in the face of symbols of terror, more memory; in the face of those who want to silence us, more resistance.
The Punta Mujeres bench was inaugurated as part of Pride, and will continue to be that: a symbol of the diverse, open and committed Lanzarote. This attack will not reverse the path traveled, but reinforces the need to continue working for an island free of hatred.