Canary Islands Take to the Streets for LGTBIQA+ Rights: 'Our Hard-Won Advances Are at Stake'
Collectives warn of a potential rollback in achieved rights due to the rise of hate speech and the far-right, especially in an election year.
By Jonay Mesa Rodríguez
••4 min read
IA
Generic image of an LGTBIQA+ rights demonstration in the Canary Islands, with people marching and rainbow flags.
Various LGTBIQA+ organizations have called for demonstrations across the Canary Islands this weekend to advocate for the community's rights amidst the rise of hate speech and the far-right.
The Canary Islands have mobilized this weekend in defense of LGTBIQA+ rights, in a context marked by the surge of hate speech and the far-right. Collectives are warning about the significance of the upcoming elections, as the progress achieved could be threatened.
Sergio Siverio, from the collective Diversas, expressed concern over the formation of local governments with the far-right in municipalities like Arona and Granadilla de Abona. Siverio criticized what he considers an attempt at "pink washing" by these parties, who form alliances with the far-right while feigning support for the LGTBIQA+ community.
Siverio questioned the inaction of the Canary Islands Government in developing regulations for the Trans and Intersex Law, which has gone five years without educational, sanitary, or business distintive protocols. He warned of potential consequences if the far-right were to gain power at the state or regional level, citing the repeal of the trans and LGTBI law as a clear threat.
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"The right and far-right have clearly agreed to repeal the trans and LGTBI law if they come to power and have the majorities to do so, which is why we are at a crucial moment, and this Pride is fundamental to taking to the streets, because we are risking almost everything we have achieved in the last two decades of activism, both in the Canary Islands and in the State."
The spokesperson for Diversas also criticized the Canary Islands Parliament for allowing an expert invited by Vox to deny child poverty and attack homosexual marriage, labeling these discourses as transphobia.
Carla Soto, from Altihay Fuerteventura, emphasized the need to continue demonstrating against political discourses from the right that seek to invisibilize the community and "force them back into closets." She mentioned vandalism incidents in Fuerteventura against a diversity mural, highlighting the importance of fighting the far-right despite progress.
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"From Fuerteventura, we see it as necessary that we continue marching and fighting against the far-right because we advance, but then we take five steps back. So, it's no use for us to put ourselves out there, give visibility, come out of the closets, and so on, when the far-right is against us and constantly trying to make us invisible."
Soto warned about the manipulation of young people through social media by the far-right, which spreads hate speech and falsehoods about past eras like the Franco dictatorship. She stressed the importance of working with youth to empower them and prevent them from fearing coming out.
Yelko Fernández, from Libertrans, emphasized that the demonstration is a call for "perpetual and unmovable" rights and that collectives must activate themselves against any attempt at regression. He highlighted the importance of education in schools to ensure future generations know their rights and feel free to love and be happy.
Carla Soto described the experience of living in fear as a trans woman, citing insults and threats received. She pointed out the community's vulnerability and concern over the repeal of trans laws in other countries, such as the United States, warning that the far-right is following similar steps.
Sergio Siverio added that organizations calling themselves feminist but being trans-exclusionary are spreading hoaxes about the unconstitutionality of the trans law, placing trans individuals in the "clear target of hate and disinformation." He mentioned that many trans people have had to delete their social media profiles to avoid persecution.
Regarding conversion therapies, Carla Soto criticized Vox's vote against the prohibition of these practices for homosexuals in Congress, contrasting it with the left's support. Yelko Fernández lamented that the debate about treating LGTBIQA+ individuals as sick still persists.
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"It doesn't matter to me that you are very proud, Mr. Jaime de los Santos, if then when you press the corresponding button, you abstain, or worse, play the far-right's game and vote against LGBTIQ+ rights, and against fulfilling international mandates for conversion therapies to finally become a crime."
Siverio criticized the abstention of Jaime de los Santos (PP) on the law criminalizing conversion therapies, calling the positions of the right and far-right "ideological contradictions" and "repugnant discourses," which promote these practices as "torture."
Demonstrations will take place in Tenerife (Saturday, 6:00 PM, starting from Parque Cultural Doña Chana in La Orotava), Gran Canaria (Saturday, 7:00 PM, starting from Avenida José Mesa y López), and Fuerteventura (Sunday, 11:00 AM, from Playa de los Pozos to the Cabildo de Fuerteventura in Puerto del Rosario).
