Seville (Spain) (AFP) – Working with rich fabrics, fine lace and flowers, gay stylists have long played a key role in dressing the Virgin Mary figures carried through the streets of southern Spain during Holy Week. But their participation in this week of religious processions which marks the peak of the Catholic calendar comes at a price: silence about their sexual orientation. And it’s a compromise that is making them increasingly uncomfortable. “Seville’s Holy Week is a contemporary festival dating back to the end of the 19th century and the gay community has been involved since the very beginning,” says Rafael Caceres, an anthropology expert at Pablo Olavide University in the southern city of Seville.