Pride marches held worldwide in support of LGBTQ+ communities
Pride parades took place across the world over the weekend in support of LGBTQ+ rights. From New York to Madrid, marchers filled the streets with music and calls for equality. Many carried messages of protest, highlighting ongoing discrimination and growing political pressure in several countries. In Istanbul, police detained more than 50 people as they tried to take part in a Pride March, which authorities had banned as part of a years-long clampdown on LGBTQ+ events, an opposition politician said
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The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Spanish PM's former right-hand man detained in corruption investigation
A former senior official in Spain's ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' party (PSOE) has been remanded in custody by a supreme court judge investigating corruption allegations that have put the country's centre-left government under unprecedented pressure. Santos Cerdán, who served as the PSOE's organisational secretary and was the righthand man of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, quit earlier this month after a judge found 'firm evidence' of his possible involvement in taking kickbacks on public construction contracts. Cerdán's alleged criminal activities, which have become the latest in a slew of corruption allegations against Sánchez's circle, led the prime minister to demand his resignation and to apologise to voters, but he dismissed calls for a snap general election. On Monday, Cerdán appeared at the supreme court to testify over allegations – which he denies – of bribery, influence peddling and criminal association. After giving evidence, he was denied bail and remanded in custody by the judge, Leopoldo Puente. The investigation began after the anti-corruption unit of the Guardia Civil police force handed material to the court that suggested Cerdán had discussed taking kickbacks on public contracts with the former PSOE transport minister José Luis Ábalos and one of the minister's aides, Koldo García. Ábalos and García are also under investigation and have denied wrongdoing. Cerdán, who stepped down from his party role and resigned his parliamentary seat shortly after the news broke, has vowed to clear his name. Sánchez, who became prime minister in 2018 after using a motion of no confidence to turf the corruption-mired conservative People's party (PP) out of government, is already contending with graft investigations relating to his wife and his brother, who both deny any wrongdoing. A former PSOE member was also recently implicated in an alleged smear campaign against the Guardia Civil police unit investigating the corruption allegations. Speaking after the judge's decision, the prime minister said: 'We acted firmly and now it will be up to the judicial authorities to establish Mr Cerdán's responsibility.' But the move led the PP to renew its demands for a fresh election. 'The person who Sánchez personally chose as his number two six months ago is today off to prison, accused of criminal charges including bribery,' said the party's leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. 'If that doesn't call for a resignation and an election, then it means [Sánchez] has totally lost touch with reality.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
NYC's 'communist' mayoral hopeful refuses to condemn lightning rod phrase during painful on-air interview
New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani repeatedly refused to condemn the phrase 'globalize the intifada' in a painful on-air interview. Mamdani, 33, a self-described socialist who won the Democratic primary for the mayorship last week, dodged the question several times when grilled by NBC's Kristen Welker over his views on the inflammatory phrase. 'Globalize the intifada' is considered by many to be a call for violence against Israeli and Jewish people around the world, and has often been heard chanted at anti-Israel protests in the US, including Mamdani's own rallies. In an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Mamdani repeatedly said he was not comfortable 'banning' the phrase, which was not what Welker asked, leading the exasperated interviewer to ask: 'Why not just condemn it?' 'That's not language that I use,' Mamdani said. 'The language that I use and the language that I will continue to use to lead this city is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in a belief in universal human rights. 'And ultimately, that's what is the foundation of so much of my politics, the belief that freedom and justice and safety are things that, to have meaning, have to be applied to all people, and that includes Israelis and Palestinians as well.' Mamdani has faced growing backlash following his surprise win in the Democratic primary, compounded by his plans to raise taxes on 'whiter neighborhoods', defund the police, and open government-run grocery stores. In the interview with Welker, she brought up Mamdani's past refusal to condemn 'globalize the intifada' on several other media appearances. When asked earlier this month on The Bulwark podcast about the phrase, he said he saw it as one that captured 'a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.' After Mamdani dodged Welker's first question about the phrase, she asked him again: 'But do you actually condemn it? 'I think that's the question and the outstanding issue that a number of people, both of the Jewish faith and beyond, have. Do you condemn that phrase, 'globalize the intifada,' which a lot of people hear as a call to violence against Jews?' Welker asked. Mamdani responded: 'I've heard from many Jewish New Yorkers who have shared their concerns with me, especially in light of the horrific attacks that we saw in Washington, D.C. and in Boulder, Colorado about this moment of antisemitism in our country and in our city. 'And I've heard those fears, and I've had those conversations. And ultimately, they are part and parcel of why, in my campaign, I've put forward a commitment to increase funding for anti-hate crime programming by 800%.' Exploiting the Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize 'globalize the intifada' is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors. Since 1987 Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner. All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history. — US Holocaust Museum (@HolocaustMuseum) June 18, 2025 Mamdani also claimed that the word 'intifada' has been 'used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic', a remark that led to a blistering rebuke from The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In an X post, the museum wrote: 'Exploiting the Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize 'globalize the intifada' is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors. Since 1987 Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner. All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history.' Mamdani referred to President Trump's detention of pro-Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil as an example of how he doesn't 'believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech.' 'And we have to root out that bigotry, and ultimately we do that through the actions. And that is the mayor I will be, one that protects Jewish New Yorkers and lives up to that commitment through the work that I do.' Welker asked again: 'But very quickly for the people who care about the language and who feel really concerned by that phrase, why not just condemn it?' Although he was not asked about banning the phrase, Mamdani repeated his belief that he does not think that as mayor he should discuss 'what language I believe is permissible or impermissible.' 'Ultimately, it's not language that I use. It's language I understand there are concerns about. And what I will do is showcase my vision for this city through my words and my actions.' The car-crash interview responses came as Mamdani has faced growing pressure to condemn the phrase, with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand slamming the mayoral hopeful in an interview on Thursday. Speaking to WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer on Thursday, Gillibrand said the phrase calls for the 'slaughter of the jews', and said she finds Mamdani 'alarming.' Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries also spoke out against Mamdani this week, telling ABC's This Week that the phrase is 'not acceptable.' The 33-year-old has faced mounting questions about his experience since he gained traction and ultimately won the Democratic primary, with his only public service work coming as a state assemblyman. In the state assembly, Mamdani promoted few bills, and his legislative record includes co-sponsoring bills requiring prisons to house inmates based on their self-declared gender, preventing law enforcement from asking about a perp's immigration status, and forcing small businesses to make their product packaging eco-friendly. Mamdani has described himself as 'Trump's worst nightmare', and his far-left policy platform sharply divided the nation as he gained traction in the mayor's race. He says he wants to raise taxes on the top one percent of New York earners - something the mayor does not have the authority to do - and make a number of city services free including childcare and buses. The city assemblyman has also proposed spending $65 million on transgender care, including for minors, freezing rent on rent-stabilized apartments, and creating city-owned grocery stores. He has also advocated for defunding the city's police department, defended pro- Palestine slogans like 'globalize the intifada' - which critics say is an anti-Semitic call for the destruction of Israel - and said he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
NYC, San Francisco and other U.S. cities cap Pride Month with a mix of party and protest
The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ Pride reached its rainbow-laden crescendo Sunday as huge crowds took part in jubilant, daylong street parties from New York to San Francisco. Pride celebrations typically weave politics and protest together with colorful pageantry, but this year's iterations took a decidedly more defiant stance as Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, have sought to roll back LGBTQ friendly policies. The theme of the festivities in Manhattan was, appropriately, "Rise Up: Pride in Protest." San Francisco's Pride theme was "Queer Joy is Resistance," while Seattle was simply "Louder." Lance Brammer, a 56-year-old teacher from Ohio attending his first Pride parade in New York, said he felt "validated" as he marveled at the sheer size of the city's celebration, the nation's oldest and largest. "With the climate that we have politically, it just seems like they're trying to do away with the whole LGBTQ community, especially the trans community," he said wearing a vivid, multicolored shirt. "And it just shows that they've got a fight ahead of them if they think that they're going to do that with all of these people here and all of the support." In San Francisco, Xander Briere said the LGBTQ+ community is fighting for its very survival in the face of sustained attacks and changing public sentiment, particularly against transgender people. "We're slowly rolling back the clock, and it's unfortunate and it's scary," the program specialist at the San Francisco Community Health Center said. "It feels like the world hates us right now, but this is a beautiful community celebration of resistance, of history to show the world that we are here and we are not going anywhere." Manhattan's parade wound its way down Fifth Avenue with more than 700 participating groups greeted by huge crowds. The rolling celebration passed the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village gay bar where a 1969 police raid triggered protests and fired up the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The first pride march, held in New York City in 1970, commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. The site is now a national monument. Meanwhile, marchers in San Francisco, host to another of the world's largest Pride events, headed down the California city's central Market Street to concert stages set up at the Civic Center Plaza. Denver, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and Toronto, Canada, were among the other major North American cities that hosted Pride parades Sunday. Several global cities including Tokyo, Paris and Sao Paulo, held their events earlier this month while others come later in the year, including London in July and Rio de Janeiro in November. Since taking office in January, Trump has taken specific aim at transgender people, removing them from the military, preventing federal insurance programs from paying for gender-affirming surgeries for young people and attempting to keep transgender athletes out of girls and women's sports. "We have to be visible. We have to come together. We have to fight. Our existence is trying to be erased," said Jahnel Butler, one of the community grand marshals at the San Francisco parade. Peter McLaughlin said he's lived in New York for years but has never attended the Pride parade. The 34-year-old Brooklyn resident said he felt compelled this year as a transgender man. "A lot of people just don't understand that letting people live doesn't take away from their own experience, and right now it's just important to show that we're just people," McLaughlin said. Gabrielle Meighan, 23, of New Jersey, said she felt it was important to come out to this year's celebrations because they come days after the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark June 26, 2015, ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that recognized same-sex marriage nationwide. Manhattan also hosted on Sunday the Queer Liberation March, an activism-centered event launched in recent years amid concerns that the more mainstream parade had become too corporate. Marchers holding signs that included "Gender affirming care saves lives" and "No Pride in apartheid" headed north from the city's AIDS Memorial to Columbus Circle near Central Park. Among the other headwinds faced by gay rights groups this year is the loss of corporate sponsorship. American companies have pulled back support of Pride events, reflecting a broader walking back of diversity and inclusion efforts amid shifting public sentiment. NYC Pride said earlier this month that about 20% of its corporate sponsors dropped or reduced support, including PepsiCo and Nissan. Organizers of San Francisco Pride said they lost the support of five major corporate donors, including Comcast and Anheuser-Busch.
