Well friends, he attacks Cort for the cancellation of Pride: "The councilor doesn't even pick up the phone"

PalmaBen Amics has announced the definitive cancellation of the Pride festival in Palma and has blamed the City Council for a situation that, according to the entity, is the 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 4 and the contracts are not yet posted on the contracting profile.

Gómez has expressed himself in a forceful tone and stated 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 has placed the conflict within a prolonged relationship of tension with the council. “Organizing the Pride festival is a 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 to process the LGTBI Pride festival file with “enough” time to complete the process within the established deadlines.

“Political LGTBI dismantling” 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 the Pride activities for the good of the community, but we can’t anymore”. Casado detailed several municipal decisions that, according to the entity, show this change of course. “In 2023, the municipal LGTBI service is eliminated”, she said, as well as “the LGTBI flag was no longer flown for Pride” 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 running 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 migrant LGTBI people. They told us that the results are not congruent and they did not let us publish them”, adding 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 is no official publication on social media about Pride”, she said. In 2024, as she explained, the dissemination was late: “They manage to publish some Pride activity on June 25, three days before the demonstration, with a generic poster, and it is not until Pride day that the poster reaches 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 denounced that on June 28 “the City Council publishes nothing, neither mayor's office, nor 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 block and crisis with the City Council

One of the central points of the conflict is the management of the occupation of public space. Jan Gómez explained that, in previous editions, the public space occupation decree arrived on June 23 and June 24”, and remarked that usually the procedures are done much earlier. “When we request 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: “Let it not be for us”, he stated. “They absolutely don't care”, and added that “if they can keep us locked in a closet, better”.

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 occupation of public space”, 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 to us, 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 occupation of public space for Pride”. Faced with this situation, the entity assures that it issued an ultimatum: “We told them that if there was not sufficient progress in the occupation of public space, 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 even by phone, she is always busy”, he stated. As he explained, “we have always spoken with the director general” and “the only call from the director general was last Friday to scold us for the press release we made to announce the cancellation”.

“If what they want is to drown the 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: “The 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 28 is still called. “The demonstration will take place on the afternoon of June 28,” 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 entity has compared the institutional treatment with other events. “The April fair was declared of municipal interest 23 days before it was held. Pride is 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.”