Quim Roqueta, Vice-president of the Consejo de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales de Barcelona, addressed the crowd, honoring the work of activists who persevered in times when glbtq people were viewed as "sinners, delinquents, or sick" and applauding the progress in legal reform made in Spain, while also warning that complete social acceptance of glbtq people remains an unrealized goal.

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The inauguration of the monument also included a performance by a gay men's chorus, the Barcelona Rainbow Singers, who sang in several languages. In addition, local glbtq groups placed numerous bouquets of flowers all along the two descending sides of the triangle.

In his comments, Jordi Petit noted that the Barcelona monument is one of very few in Europe that commemorate the oppression of glbtq people. He cited the Homomonument in Amsterdam, a plaque installed by the International Lesbian and Gay Association at the site of the Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen, Austria, and the dedication of a street in Toulouse, France to the memory of Pierre Seel, who was imprisoned in a concentration camp because of his homosexuality.

Petit also noted that the Barcelona memorial "is very suitable for the city that is the seat of the Mediterranean Union."

Another gay leader, Antonio Guirado, remarked that "This is a necessary monument to remember the discrimination, repression, humiliation, persecution, attacks, and assassinations that the LGTB community suffered for centuries and very especially during the Franco dictatorship."

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the Inquisitions of Aragon and Portugal prosecuted almost 1500 trials for sodomy of various kinds.

As part of its agenda to preserve an "Aryan master race," Nazism persecuted homosexuals as "asocial parasites"; more than 100,000 men were arrested on homosexual charges during the Nazi years, with 5,000-15,000 gay men incarcerated in concentration camps.

Historically, the Roman Catholic Church may be the institution most responsible for the suffering of individuals involved in same-sex sexual relationships.

From a particularly strong application of sodomy laws in the early modern period to a liberalization of sexual mores since the 1980s, Spanish society has displayed an ambivalent and complex relationship to sexual minorities.

The various symbols of glbtq pride render marginalized communities visible and assert self-esteem in the face of discrimination and oppression.

Pop sculptor George Segal's "Gay Liberation" (1980) was the first piece of public art commemorating the struggle of glbtq people for equality.

Amsterdam's Homomonument is one of the world's foremost public memorials acknowledging the persecution endured by gay men and lesbians during World War II and throughout history.

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) is a worldwide federation of local and national groups dedicated to achieving equal rights for glbtq people.

The Legacy Walk in Chicago is an outdoor history museum that reclaims and celebrates glbtq contributions to world history and culture.

Originally a mark of criminalization and persecution under the Nazis, the pink triangle was later reclaimed by gays both as a memorial and as a celebration of sexual identity.

Sent to a Nazi concentration camp because of his homosexuality, Pierre Seel remained silent about his ordeal for decades but finally chose to speak out, demanding recognition of the suffering of gay men and advocating for glbtq rights.