Ben Amics cancels Pride Day in Palma and blames Cort for "giving in to the far right"

PalmaBen Amics cancels the LGTBI+ Pride Day festival in Palma due to the Palma City Council's lack of planning, accusing it of "giving in to the far-right." Through a statement, the entity regrets having to make this decision and considers it just another example of the "clear setback" for the LGTBI+ collective in Mallorca. Furthermore, they assure that it is a new demonstration of the lack of priority of public policies regarding rights and diversity.

According to the statement, this situation is the "final blow" to municipal equality policies, after the cancellation of the sexual and gender diversity workshops of PalmaEduca.

The conflict has been dragging on since April 22, 85 days after the first coordination attempt with the council. In that meeting, which the responsible councilor did not attend, no concrete plan or clear guidelines were presented. The contract to organize the event was still being drafted and the responsible area had not even been assigned, which, according to Ben Amics, shows a lack of internal coordination.

The entity assures that, despite repeated attempts to avoid repeating last year's problems, this year's planning has been "even more deficient." They consider that, with less than two months until the celebration, the festival format is "unviable".

Ben Amics interprets Cort's “institutional silence” and the expiry of deadlines as a “creeping towards the far right” and regrets the disappearance of the city's only major annual LGTBI+ activity. Despite this, it is confident that the awareness-raising activities planned for June can be maintained and calls on other town councils in Mallorca to promote visibility spaces during Pride.