Spanish minister under fire for suggesting LGBT people face discrimination from the working class

‘Do not confuse an area where there is intolerance with a working class area’, responded one critic

Irene Montero is Spain’s equality minister (Gobierno de España)

A minister in Spain's left-wing coalition government was at the centre of a row after suggesting that gay and transsexual people face homophobia from working class people.

Irene Montero, who is the equality minister, tweeted: “Of course, there are LGBT+ people in working class neighbourhoods. What happens is they do not rent them an apartment because they are lesbians.

“They get beaten up for being trans, they make fun of them at school or at work. Is there anyone who thinks that LGTBI rights are 'symbolic’ and not material?”

Montero's tweet is accompanied by an excerpt from the film Pride, a 2014 British comedy-drama which was based on a true story about a group of lesbian and gay rights activists who raised money to help families affected by the miners' strike in 1984.

The film, starring Bill Nighy, won the Queer Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival the year it was released.

Montero's comments drew criticism from across the political spectrum.

“Do you realise that you criminalize working- class neighbourhoods and that many homosexuals are fed up that you use them for it?” wrote Valentin García, a finalist on Spain's Masterchef, on social media.

Another user of Twitter said: “In many working class areas there are LGBT+ people who are respected by their neighbours, who rent apartments and nobody is bothered. Do not confuse an area where there is intolerance with a working class area.”

The row is doubly embarrassing for Montero, who is the partner of Pablo Iglesias, Spain's deputy prime minister and leader of the far-left Unidas Podemos party, the junior partner in the coalition government.

The 32-year-old equality minister, who is a prominent feminist and defender of LGBT+ rights, came into the government when the Socialists joined forces with Unidas Podemos last year to form a coalition.

Montero and Iglesias have been the target of criticism since they moved from Madrid with their three young children to a spacious chalet, which reportedly cost €615,000 (GBP 545,000) in Galapagar, a town outside the Spanish capital, which has a swimming pool and is guarded by police.

Montero is trying to steer a law through parliament that will guarantee self-determination of gender and the pathologisation of being transgender.

This means that Spain will recognise being transgender as a health or behavioural condition rather than as a medical condition.

The law, which has yet to be admitted before parliament, has prompted divisions within the government and criticism from conservative opposition parties.