A billboard paid for by the Elam party expressing opposition to marriage and adoption by same-sex couples has been spray-painted over.

The billboard in question, placed on a rooftop in Nicosia days ago, was spray-painted over in orange with the acronym LOL (Laugh Out Loud) – evidently trolling the message.

The billboard reads: “No to marriage and the adoption of children by same-sex couples. Cyprus first.”

Its placement had sparked controversy on social media about free speech as well as a back-and-forth between Elam and Accept-LGBTI Cyprus.

The latter filed complaints to the Children’s Rights Commissioner, the Ombudsman’s office and Strovolos municipality over the billboard.

Last week Stefanos Evangelides, a spokesperson for Accept, said they take exception not with the message per se.

“We don’t have a problem with the positions of the parties, nor do we demand that they change their positions,” Evangelides said.

Their issue is that the billboard was put up in a neighborhood with seven schools, and therefore highly visible to children aged seven to 18.

Strovolos municipality later said the message does not violate any law or regulations relating to billboard permits.

For its part, Elam complained that some quarters were seeking to gag them.

“We consider unacceptable the attempts to gag and thwart free speech via prohibitions and interventions relating to the placement of billboards expressing our views,” Party spokesman Marios Pelekanos said.

“The dictatorship of the few shall not suppress the views of the many. Without fear or guilt complexes, we shall stand up against attempts to corrode the institution of the family,” he added.

Replying to Elam, Accept reiterated that they do not intend to suppress free speech, merely to point out that the placement of the billboard was inappropriate.

“We’re not asking Elam to agree with us. They won’t. They don’t need to. We only ask for one thing: that the school route used by thousands of Cypriot teenagers should not serve as a podium for stigmatising the families of some of these teenagers, or some of the teenagers themselves.

“Everything else is deflection.”

Same-sex marriage is not legally recognised or performed in the Republic of Cyprus. However, same-sex couples have been able to enter into civil unions (cohabitation agreements) since 2015.