Spanish politician and LGBT activist Pedro Zerolo dies
Spanish politician and LGBT activist Pedro Zerolo, who helped shape a number of rights reforms in the country, has died of cancer.
Mr Zerolo served as President of two of the country’s most influential gay rights groups – Colectivo Gay de Madrid, and Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales.
The activist was an early campaigner for gay rights, before later becoming a city councillor for the Socialist Party of Madrid in 2007.
He had a hand in shaping a number of reforms in the country, including same-sex marriage, which became law in Spain in 2005, and later the country’s gender recognition laws.
Mr Zerolo passed away of pancreatic cancer this week, and is survived by his husband Jesús Santos, who he married in 2005 after securing equality.
Pedro Sanchez, the general sectary of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, paid tribute to the politician, saying: “He taught us that all forms of diversity are a part of socialism.”
Rights group FELGTB said: “He was a tenacious activist, who had been struggling and working for the rights of LGBTI people, until last breath.”
Nearly 200 people gathered in Chueca Square, Madrid to honour Pedro Zerolo following his passing.
