The political supporters of the LGBT+ community in the Valencia region have started to fight back against the attempts to stamp out their “ideology” and have started to recover, in a miniscule dose, support from the PP, going against their political partners, VOX.
If you cast your mind back to the start of this political legislature, only last year, the PP failed to gain enough support in the polls and so formed an agreement with their far-right partners, VOX. For their part, VOX obtained a relatively small number of votes, but in order to secure the coalition, the PP elevated their members to positions of power far higher than would be proportionate.
One of the first actions promoted by the coalitions, rather than fixing real-life problems for the people, was to wipe out what VOX considered ideology, by banning such symbols as the rainbow flag, and even painting over rainbow-coloured benches, amongst many other attacks on the community.
However, the rainbow flag is back, and has been proudly on display to commemorate World Day against LGTBIphobia (May 17) and will return for Pride Day (June 28), it is intended.
It was actually Compromís who promoted an initiative weeks ago to, in addition to hanging the rainbow flag in a visible place on the façade of the Palau dels Borja, they organised events for “the visibility, normalisation and consolidation of real equality against LGTBIphobia”, and urged Les Corts members to participate “actively” in the events giving “voice” to all the entities that make up the Consell Valencià LGTBI and the Consell Consultiu Trans de la Comunitat Valenciana.
It was no surprise that the initiative was rejected in the Les Corts Table, controlled by PP and Vox. However, turning against their far-right partners, now the PP are in favour of hanging the rainbow flag on the designated days, but not to the rest of the claims cited by Compromís and also supported by the PSPV-PSOE.
Thus, the PPCV presented this Monday an agreement proposal to show its “support for the entire LGTBI community” consisting of hanging the rainbow flag on the indicated dates, without other additions. An initiative that both Compromís and PSPV considered “insufficient.”
“As you understand and know perfectly well Vox’s position, we will vote against putting up any flag. We believe that defending the dignity and equality of all people, regardless of their sexual, ideological, religious or racial orientation, is not doing different; do not make positive or negative discriminations, because true equality is never achieved by exercising these types of discriminations,” stressed the spokesperson for this formation in Les Corts, José María Llanos. A position that has special strength given that the presidency of the chamber itself is held by a leader of this party, Llanos Massó, the result of the government agreement reached last year with the PP.
For his part, the PP ombudsman, Miguel Barrachina , defended that his group “wants the flag to be on the façade of Les Corts” like in recent years, “without it being used by any partisan group”, in his opinion. In this sense, PP sources warned that if the flag is not finally hung, it will be due to the opposition’s interest in obtaining “political profit” by trying to blame Mazón’s PP, a statement which in itself is garnered for political profit.
At this point, the proposal is the one that must be addressed at a future meeting of the Les Corts Board, although other initiatives may come from the opposition, which yesterday refused to give in to just hanging the flag.
Thus, the spokesperson for Compromís, Joan Baldoví, considered that the PP “backs down a little more every day” against Vox and doubted its firmness in the defence of rights.
For her part, socialist deputy Cristina Martínez criticised that the PP’s initiative on the LGTBI flag “tries to water down a very important claim and symbolism in LGTBI rights.” In that sense, the socialist parliamentary group assured that they will present an initiative “to maintain what has been done in recent years, which is not only to hang the flag but to do it with institutional representatives and LGTBI groups.”
