More than 4,000 people set off along Las Ramblas. They walked slowly, conscious of the weight of every step, knowing that what they were doing was unprecedented, risky and, at the same time, inevitable.
They had spent years living in the shadows, hiding their identities under Franco's dictatorship and its laws that criminalised sexual dissent. That Sunday in June, they stepped into the light for the first time. Their slogan was in Catalan, and it was a declaration of existence:
"Nosaltres no tenim por, nosaltres som", which in Spanish can be read as: "Nosotras no tenemos miedo. Nosotras somos".
Without knowing it at the time, this was the first LGBTIQ+ Pride march in Spain's history, and the world they were leaving behind would never again be quite the same.
Coming out of hiding
