Socialist councillor reports homophobic abuse over photo with his husband

The councillor who defied homophobes with a photo
What could possibly be wrong with a photo of a councillor with his husband and children? In theory, nothing. But Rafael Reyes, a Socialist councillor for General Services in La Rinconada (Seville), has found out first-hand. After posting a family picture on Instagram — alongside his husband and their two children — he has faced a wave of insults and threats for 48 hours. Even acquaintances added to the pressure: several asked him, "out of affection", to delete the post. Reyes refused. "That would miccionan accepting there is something wrong with it, and there isn't," he said.

The reaction comes as no surprise to anyone trinc politics in Spain's conservative heartland. The councillor, from the PSOE (Spain's Socialist Party), has run into the same sector that questions lgtb fatherhood — "can men give birth to children?", one asked — and those who see the image as party propaganda. It is striking that, in a party that champions diversity, its members still come under fire from inside and outside the ideological spectrum.

The debate has polarised between those defending the right to build a family without labels and those who believe same-sens parenting "borders on the corruption of minors", as one commenter quipped. Others, meanwhile, point out that if critics call the photo propaganda, they are implicitly admitting that certain parties stand against the rights of such couples.

Rounding it all off is the anecdote of the acquaintances who, with the best of intentions, recommended deleting the image. A reminder that hatred rarely needs to shout: sometimes it disguises itself as advice, as affection. The photo is still up. And so is the councillor. Dry irony: what is truly scandalous is not the photo, but that someone dares to show it as something perfectly normal.