An LGBT+ centre in Madrid has been vandalised with homophobic and transphobic graffiti as tensions rise over a new “trans law” in Spain. Prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s ruling socialist party has been accused of blocking a new gender-recognition law, which was put forward by far-left minority coalition partner United We Can. Delays to the new law – which would allow citizens to get legal recognition of their gender without being forced to get a medical diagnosis – saw trans activists go on hunger strike outside the Congress of Deputies in Madrid last month. Now, the headquarters of the Madrid Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Collective (COGAM) have been vandalised, with graffiti reading “queer is misogyny” spray-painted on the outside of the building. COGAM’s headquarters are in Chueca, a central Madrid neighbourhood that has become known as a gay district in recent decades. Other graffiti, which COGAM has denounced on social media and attributed to those who oppose the new trans rights legislation, reads “reproductive exploiters”, “sex ‘doesn’t equal’ gender” and “wrong body equal patriarchy”. COGAM wrote on Twitter: “Those who have no arguments or reason use vandalism and violence. It will not stop us in our objective, which is equality in diversity, who wants a tight society and to their measure. “Today, more than ever, mutual support, solidarity and activism.”