An exchange of words in the Cibeles Plenary Session reopens the debate on institutional respect and homophobia in political discourse.
The municipal plenary session of the Madrid City Council, held this Wednesday with an agenda focused on urban planning, ended up involved in strong controversy. The PSOE councilor, Antonio Giraldo, publicly denounced a homophobic comment allegedly made by the Popular Party councilor Andrea Levy. According to Giraldo, during his intervention Levy would have told him that it was better to speak “from a sauna”, an expression that the socialist described as “disgusting and homophobic.”
It would be great if the PP councilor, Andrea Levy, did not make homophobic comments about saunas at me while I am speaking in the plenary session of the city council and talking about the regulation of housing for tourist use.
Thank you!
— Antonio Giraldo (@giraldeo) May 21, 2025
Although the comment was not recorded in the minutes or on an open microphone, Giraldo assured that he had witnesses and formally requested that article 79 of the Plenary Regulations be applied, which regulates the defense of institutional decorum and the response to offensive allusions. He called for an immediate retraction from Levy. She, from her seat, denied having said those words and simply responded: “You must be very sick to say this outrageous thing.”
Interventions without turn and tension in the chamber
The incident occurred just before voting on the Reside Plan, a new regulation on tourist apartments. Despite not having a turn to speak, Levy intervened twice and was called to order by the president of the Plenary Session, Borja Fanjul. However, she was not expelled from the room, a gesture that if it had occurred could have unbalanced the majority of the PP in the key vote.
After the vote, Levy approached Giraldo’s seat to have a brief conversation. According to Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the councilor explained the context of the comment and clarified that “she did not intend to offend, far from it.” Almeida also accused the opposition of “taking her party colleague’s words out of context.”
From the PSOE, Reyes Maroto announced the presentation of a formal complaint for what he considers a “sectarian application of the regulations” by the president of the Plenary Session, and demanded a public apology from Levy or the mayor. Maroto also appealed to collective responsibility to “lower the level of tension and recover democratic quality.”
The Gaza conflict enters the municipal agenda
The controversy over the homophobic comment was added to another source of tension: Palestine and Israel. The spokesperson for Más Madrid, Rita Maestre, dedicated part of her intervention to criticizing the actions of the Government of Israel in Gaza and the position of the municipal Executive. He showed images of child victims of the conflict and questioned the PP’s support for Netanyahu’s government.
“The mayor says that it is regrettable to call the State of Israel genocidal. The regrettable thing is that so many European governments are reviewing their agreements with Israel and the PP continues to support it without fissures,” declared Maestre. During this moment of the debate, the president of the Plenary Session expelled councilor Nacho Murgui for calling him a “scoundrel” after three consecutive warnings.
Where are the limits of political discourse?
This episode raises an uncomfortable question: what margin of ambiguity do we tolerate in political language? The expression “talking from a sauna” may seem innocuous out of context, but in certain cultural frameworks it can carry homophobic connotations. Should Levy have been required to be more sensitive, even if he had no offensive intention? Or are we facing an excessive use of political “offense”? What is clear is that institutional trust and respect between public representatives is easily eroded in such a polarized climate.
