KING Felipe VI of Spain has become the first Monarch in the world to feature on the cover of a magazine for gay, bisexual and transsexual readers.
The photo on the front page of RAGAP is in recognition of the new King's special award, due to be granted at the LGBT wing of the international FITUR tourism fair held in Madrid at the start of every year.
Felipe VI and his wife, Queen Letizia, arranged a national conference for representatives of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual communities last June and spoke to leaders of nationwide associations working to support those of minority sexual orientations and people who have undergone, or wish to undergo, gender reassignment surgery.
This is the first time ever that such a meeting has been called by reigning Monarchs – not only in Spain, but anywhere on the planet - and HRHs Felipe and Letizia pledged to help in any way they could to promote equal rights and visibility for these communities.
Now, the King will be given a 'rainbow-coloured' award at the FITUR LGBT fair between Wednesday, January 28 and Sunday, February 1 in recognition of his support.
Prizes will also be given to the US ambassador James Costos, to president Barack Obama for his drive to make same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states, and to the Spanish daily broadsheet El Mundo for its positive image of and regular coverage of real-life stories affecting the homosexual and bisexual community.
Spain is one of the world's safest, most open and most tolerant countries for same-sex couples and singles, with homosexual marriage and adoption having been legal on a completely equal footing to heterosexual marriage and adoption for a decade.
Until then, only The Netherlands and Belgium recognised same-sex marriage, and Canada and a small number of states in the USA came shortly afterwards, meaning Spain was one of the pioneers in this field.
Catalunya has recently passed a regional anti-violence law referring explicitly to hate crimes, including homophobia in the description, to provide those who suffer physical or verbal aggression on the grounds of their sexuality with the specific type of support and legal redress needed in the face of attacks of this nature.
