For nine years, waiter and bartender Miguel Angel Lara Muñoz has worked at bar El Rincón Guay, a hot spot in one of Madrid’s most diverse neighborhoods, Lavapies. Six meters of rainbow flags cover the front door; inside, Muñoz works at the bar, preparing coffees and Spanish dishes such as migas. Stylish with a flowing black shirt and a blue streak in his dark black hair, he often dances to Shakira’s “se enamoré” when he’s not serving customers. One early October morning a customer holding a baby walks in and Muñoz greets her with “Ay I love babies!” He keeps a bowl of dog food and water outside the door for customers’ pets.
The Lavapies neighborhood is home to gay bars that attract diverse clientele. “It’s a melting pot and a salad bowl,” said journalist Leah Pattem. The bar, and several others in Lavapies, have become a community spot for LGBTQ immigrants and refugees to gather and share their stories, a respite from discrimination and difficulties accessing healthcare and job markets.
“I love the people that are here,” said immigrant and single mother of two Iris Vaz Viso in Spanish. “In this bar we are friends that have become a family. You make your own family”
Roberto Perez, the owner of el Rincon Guay, said that many customers are LGBTQ immigrants who fled from their home countries because of persecution due to their sexual orientation. “Many people have come from outside with the aim of living in peace,” said Perez in Spanish. “It is a very high percentage of people who fled for sexual reasons although statistics don’t reflect this. It was not because of the economy or wars; it was for this hidden issue”
Indeed, there has been a significant growth in asylum petitions in the EU and Spain in general. Petitions for asylum in the European Union have grown by 87% in 2022, with about 420,500 applications registered before July 19, according to El Pais. Of this percentage, Spain specifically has about 62,300 applications, and is the country with the second most petitions for asylum in the EU, according to El Pais.
The process of obtaining asylum as an LGBTQ immigrant requires providing documents such as “reports from national and international human rights organizations, and/or press articles that describe the types of harm the applicant has suffered or fears in the future in their country of origin,” according to LGBTQ immigrant organization Kif Kif.
NYU Professor Aida Bueno, a Cuban refugee in Spain, noted that there have been some improvements in the system. “In the past, some tests violated the privacy of LGTBQ people and there have been some changes in European regulations in this regard to preserve the dignity of asylum seekers for this reason,” she said, a sentiment which was echoed by immigrant organization CEAR. CEAR applauded Spain for the increase in favorable petition outcomes, however they also hoped that this momentum would continue.
Even after obtaining asylum, LGBTQ refugees still have difficulty gaining access to healthcare and jobs. They face discrimination, language barriers, and other cultural differences. While asylum seekers can start working six months after their asylum application is accepted, according to Asylum in Europe, complications like transferring educational qualifications and past experience make finding jobs very difficult. On top of these difficulties in these sectors, discrimination and hate crimes are a big issue in Spain. Specifically, for LGBTQ+ immigrants, they face double discrimination, according to an article by EuroNews.
Muñoz noted one instance at the Rincón Guay during quarantine, anonymous callers would summon the police on the bar. The police would arrive to discover nothing was amiss. Muñoz also subsequently overheard passersby saying, “that is the bar for faggots.” Though Perez also remembers moments where people have reacted negatively when he has kissed his partner, he also didn’t let these incidents bother him.
“[This place] has changed people’s minds,” noted Perez, “only haters are the ones who will accept absolutely nothing. Fortunately, the way that the rest of the world views the homosexual world since long ago is improving. There will always be haters.”
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