Ben Amics attacks Cort for Pride cancellation: "The councilwoman doesn't even pick up the phone"

PalmBen Amics has announced the definitive cancellation of the Pride festival in Palma and has held the City Council responsible for a situation that, according to the entity, is a consequence of years of administrative inaction, lack of planning, and a sustained process of dismantling municipal LGTBI policies. It is, they assure, "the first time in more than 20 years that the Pride festival has been suspended". "Our festival is cancelled", said Jan Gómez, technical coordinator of the entity. "It is May 4th and the contracts are still not posted on the contracting profile".

Gómez expressed himself in a forceful tone and affirmed that “it is a precedent” and that they have encountered “mistreatment by institutions regarding the claim we are making”. He also assured that “the Palma City Council has said things that are not true” and placed the conflict in a prolonged relationship of tension with the council. “Organizing the Pride festival is an ordeal with the City Council for 13 years and especially for 4 years”, he said, while denying the municipal explanations about the maintenance of LGTBI services: “They have denied the dismantling of LGTBI services in the City Council, and it is false”. The Palma City Council, for its part, has indicated that this week it will begin processing the LGTBI Pride festival file with “enough” time to complete the process within the established deadlines.

“Political dismantling of LGTBI” and institutional regression

The spokesperson for Ben Amics, Tatiana Casado, has denounced a process of sustained regression in public policies. “We have had 3 years of municipal LGTBI political dismantling and also from the Government”, she stated, adding that “we have tried to maintain all Pride activities for the good of the community, but we can no longer”. Casado has detailed several municipal decisions that, according to the entity, evidence this change of direction. “In 2023, the municipal LGTBI service is eliminated”, she said, as well as “the LGTBI flag for Pride stopped being hung” and “municipal LGTBI subsidies were also eliminated”.

She also denounced the lack of visibility campaigns and episodes of censorship. “In 2024, it continues the same and they stop doing the Pride visibility campaign that they used to do in July”, she explained. Regarding 2025, she assured that “they censor our dissemination campaign made with LGTBI migrant individuals. They told us that the results are not congruent and did not let us publish them”, and added that “they let the educational programs on sexual and gender diversity expire”. For Casado, this is a “clear structural dismantling of the LGTBI movement”.

In this context, she also referred to institutional communication in recent years. “On July 28, 2023, there was no official publication on social media about Pride”, she said. In 2024, as she explained, the dissemination was late: “They managed to publish some Pride activity on June 25, three days before the demonstration, with a generic poster, and it wasn't until Pride Day that the poster reached the city”.

In 2025, he added, “on June 17 we are forced to write an email to say that with 11 days left until the festival we have no poster, no program of activities, and we don't know how the demonstration will be carried out”. He also reported that on June 28 “the City Council publishes nothing, neither the mayor's office, nor the City Council, nor anything”. Furthermore, he compared the budgetary allocation with that of Orgullosament Inca: “It gives 100,000 euros and in Palma they give us... 15,000?”, Casado compared.

Administrative blockade and crisis with the City Council

One of the central points of the conflict is the management of street occupation. Jan Gómez explained that, in previous editions, the street occupation decree arrived on June 23 and June 24”, and stressed that procedures are usually done much further in advance. “When we asked for permission, last year we did it in February and this year in January, because we saw the wolf's ears coming”, he said. Gómez assured that the institutional interest is evident: “It's not for lack of trying on our part”, he affirmed. “They absolutely don't care”, and added that “it would be better if they could keep us locked up in a closet”.

The conflict intensified in 2026, when, according to the entity, the administrative procedure was blocked for months. “On January 27, 2026, we submitted a request for street occupation”, he explained. “In February, we sent a reminder via email, in March a third email. It wasn't until April that the City Council apologized, saying they had forgotten to respond”. On April 22, according to Ben Amics' account, “they told us that no municipal area wanted to assume the street occupation for Pride”. Faced with this situation, the entity stated that it issued an ultimatum: “We told them that if there was not sufficient progress in street occupation, contracts, and streamlining of procedures, we would have to make decisions”.

Gómez has also criticized the lack of direct political contact. “The Councilor for Culture, Lourdes Roca, has not attended to us by phone, she is always busy”, he stated. As he explained, “we have always spoken with the general director” and “the only call from the general director was last Friday to scold us for the press release we made to announce the cancellation”.

“If what they want is to drown small associations to take over Pride, they will have us in front of them”, he sentenced. At this point, he also referred to political precedents: “Historical memory is very short, that's why. The City Council already tried to do a different Pride and the councilor (Sonia Vivas, Podem) ended up being dismissed”, he said.

Protest, mobilization and comparisons with other festivals

Despite the cancellation of the festival, the demonstration on June 28th is still called. “The demonstration will take place on the afternoon of June 28th”, explained Gómez, who added that “we will surely end up at Cort to denounce the situation”. He also warned that “the last thing we need is for our right to mobilize to be cut short”.

Finally, the organization compared the institutional treatment with other events. “The April Fair was declared of municipal interest 23 days before it was held. Pride was not.” Mayor Jaime Martínez likes it so much that he has made four Instagram posts," denounced Gómez. He also added that, years ago, “the Bar Flexas party, which is after Pride, was declared of interest before Pride”. Gómez concluded with a global reading of the conflict: “There is political will, yes, but to dismantle the LGTBI collective”.