'alGAYda' uses pride to confront a new attack on the bank with LGBTI colors

The Equality Commission of Algaida, Pina, and Randa has taken a stand and expressed its pride in the face of yet another attack on the bench on Ribera Street in the town. The bench, which displays the colors of the LGBTQ+ community, was found defaced with the word "Gay" painted in black. This is the third attack on the rainbow-colored bench. The first occurred in 2023, but it didn't receive much public attention at the time. In December 2024, it was vandalized again, this time painted entirely green. This second attack was condemned by the Algaida Town Council, which reported the incident to the Civil Guard. At the time, the Council and the Equality Commission expressed "their absolute condemnation and outrage at the act of vandalism" through social media and made their position known to the press. Now, in response to this latest attack, the commission has gone a step further, with some of its members posing for photographs to confront those who perpetrate these acts of vandalism from behind a veil of anonymity.

Thus, Jerònia Miralles, Councilor for Equality; the Mayor of Randa, Francisca Salvá; the Councilor for MÁS, Coloma Mas; Jordi Calvet and Pere Fullana, all members of the Equality Commission, posed for a photograph next to the bench displaying the message "With Pride".

Councilor Jerònia Miralles explained that "for the time being" they will not remove the graffiti to give even more visibility to the attack by the intolerant. The commission has commissioned an article from Pere Fullana Falconer who, in addition to being a member of the commission, is a driving force behind the Homes Transitant collective.

We reproduce it in full:

With Pride. alGAYda

Dedicated to a welcoming bench on Ribera Street, a symbol of diversity, a unique corner in alGAYda, where we might encounter many names, a testament to diversity.

Periodically damaged, symbolically besieged by what it represents, harassed with hatred, the object of ill will, used to express rejection.

A humble space on a village street, a mirror image of the beacon of sexual and affective diversity. A symbol that signifies experiences, identities in the village. A bench to welcome, gather, and invite dialogue about the diverse expressions of love, differentiated and dissenting from the heteropatriarchal system. All of us from the universal and multicolored spectrum: LGBTIQ+.

Perhaps the bench offends some sensibilities. A bench that expresses a break with customs and habits of intolerance. Realities that no longer live hidden, and which the bank with the LGBTQ+ flag, wanting to be small and humble, welcomes.

A place to uncover and break the shell of the patriarchal cultural system, which, among other forms of violence, seeks to maintain the exclusion of tenderness for those of us who love people of the same sex. These are the women, represented by this series of names: male names, men who love men; female names, women who love women. Names, diverse identities, with the feeling of belonging to the sex and gender order with which they identify.

Names, identities, that we might find on every street, in many homes, in our squares, in our daily lives, in commerce, in shops, in the bakery, in cafes and bars, in workplaces, in schools and educational institutions, in administration, among women, in the parish, and in the outside world. They all feel and love, embracing, kissing, and caressing whomever they wish. Working; as mothers and fathers; single or with a partner; godmothers and godfathers, whatever their choice and emotional orientation. We meet in everyday life, caring and celebrating when necessary, also embracing grief when it arrives.

Thus, all of them, making social life an avalanche of rich experiences of shared and enriching coexistence. Inclusively with everyone.

This being yet another expression of the fruits of social achievements. With rights and respect, with justice, and building coexistence. In Algaida, the bench on Ribera Street becomes a symbol that some people besiege, planting seeds of hatred upon it. Contrary to the way of the times, in which we are all finding a place, in which respectful coexistence unites diversities as a way of life.

There are many of us… Some may be among the following lines:

Sofía, Helena, Miguel, Juan, Francisco, Rafael, José, Pedro, Jaime, María, Francisco, Catalina, Juana, Aina, Javier, Gabriel, Julián, Antonio, Esperanza, Juliana, Gloria, Pep, Beatriz, Aina María, Jorge, Manuel, Sebastián, Vicens, Fernando, María Coloma, Cristina, Damiana, Colau, Agustín, Buenaventura, Carmen, Aina, Teresa, Margalida, Isabel, Victoria, Nieves, Gonçal, Federico, Marcos, Pep, Toni, Poncio, Tonina, María, Sebasti, Angela, Leonor, Carlos, Tolo, Pablo, Hernán, Adriano, Alberto, Elissabet, Diana, Aleix, Alfonso, Alejandro, Andrés, Ángel, Toni, Juan, Bernardo, Beatriz, Aurora, Asunción, Apolonia, Antonia, Bruno, Celestino, Cristina, Concha, Clara, Clara, Ángeles, Andrea, Alicia, Didac, Eduardo, Emilio, Enrique, Cati, Carlos, Gabriela, Bruna, Erik, Jesús, Francisco Javier, Xisca, Isabel, Julia, Irene, Biel, Gaspar, Gerardo, Gori, Berta, Belén, Guillermo, Ignacio, Isidro, Carlota, Daniela, Elisenda, Emma, ​​Eva, Josefina, Lorenzo, Juan Luis, Xim, Alfred, Juanma, Lucas, Luis, Lolo, Tomás, Mariano, Justo, Monserrat, Nacho, Concha, Paula, Anneta, Alexandra, Alicia, Nel, Onofre, Octavio, Amelia, Natalia, Andre Bárbara, Beatriz, Bel, Feliu, Rafa, Raúl, Ricardo, Santi, Serafín, Sergio, Simón, Sión, Tófol, Juana, Gabriela, Victoria, Valeriano, Víctor, Pepa, Cata, Jerónima. With all possible combinations and roots throughout all times and places.

With a deep and loving gaze upon the memory of all those who lived through repression, suffered, and were never able to express themselves freely. With respect for the burden of fear, the scruples, and the undignified gestures.

To live and defend rights, to enjoy and build community, even when it seeks to sow confusion, prioritizing hatred to obscure the colors of life, is and will be the formula for coexistence that will articulate the plurality and diversity of life. Which is making the community a place of healthy coexistence.