Barcelona will host WorldPride 2030, one of the main international events in the LGTBI movement, after its bid was chosen over the one submitted by Bangkok. The Catalan capital will organize the event in a year that is especially significant for the history of the rights of the group in Spain, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the approval of same-sex marriage and the half-century since the legalization of the Front d'Alliberament Gai de Catalunya (FAGC).
The designation recognizes the project driven by Pride Barcelona and the Cambra LGTBIQ+ de Catalunya, which has brought together more than 40 organizations and has had the support of the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Government of Spain. The bid proposes combining Pride celebrations with cultural activities and discussion spaces on LGTBI rights, with the participation of international entities and activists.
On Thursday, the PSOE celebrated the election and asserted both the work of the associational movement and collaboration between the three administrations, led by socialist leaders. Its LGTBI secretary, Víctor Gutiérrez, said that the news comes in the same year in which Spain, for the first time, has taken first place in the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map, which assesses the legal protection of LGTBI rights in 49 European countries.
Barcelona recovers its history as a stage for the World Pride
The city has a trajectory closely linked to the Spanish LGTBI movement. In June 1977, it hosted the first Pride march held in Spain, still during the Transition, when organizations were calling for the repeal of the legislation that persecuted homosexual people.
More than five decades later, the WorldPride celebration will coincide with two anniversaries. In 2030, 25 years since the legalization of marriage between people of the same sex will be marked, approved in 2005, and 50 years since the legal recognition of the FAGC, one of the pioneering organizations of Spanish LGTBI activism.
The election also means the return of WorldPride to Spain after its celebration in Madrid in 2017. The event, promoted by the international organization InterPride, regularly brings together Pride organizations from different countries and combines major mobilizations with meetings dedicated to the defense of human rights.
In the case of Barcelona, its promoters aspire for the program to serve to strengthen cooperation between organizations and address the challenges that affect the group in different countries, as well as to attract visitors during the celebrations.
"The PP and Vox want to turn our achievements into an object of political negotiation"
The socialist reaction has been accompanied by a reaffirmation of the equality policies developed in Spain. For Víctor Gutiérrez, the designation of Barcelona coincides with an international recognition of Spanish legislation on LGTBI rights.
"Spain is today the European country that most protects LGTBI rights through its laws and public policies. And it is not the result of chance. It is the result of decades of struggle by the associational movement and of brave political decisions, driven by socialist governments", he said.
The PSOE has linked this assessment to the results of the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map 2026, a ranking drawn up based on the laws and public policies of 49 European countries. It has also expressly thanked the work of the entities that have prepared the Barcelona bid.
In the middle of the pre-election campaign for the general elections on November 29, the socialists have taken advantage of the news to question the positions of the PP and Vox. In particular, they criticized Alberto Núñez Feijóo's proposal to eliminate registrable sex self-determination, incorporated into Spanish legislation through the 2023 trans law, as well as Santiago Abascal's statements about Pride demonstrations.
"The PP and Vox want to turn our achievements into an object of political negotiation, to cut back the guarantees for trans people, and to push Pride aside. We are not talking about ideological differences: we are talking about rights and freedoms", Gutiérrez said.
The socialist leader insisted that the 2030 celebration should also serve to assert the collective's pending demands. "WorldPride 2030 will not be only a celebration of what we have achieved, but also a claim for everything that still remains for us to conquer", he said.
With the headquarters already awarded, Barcelona will have to specify over the coming years the program and organization of the gathering, which will once again place Spain on the international Pride calendar.