Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales

The Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales (FELGTB; English: National Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals) is the main LGBT organisation in Spain. FELGTB is characterised by demanding LGBT rights, at times through controversial campaigns. Its current chairman is Uge Sangil.

Uge Sangil, chairman of FELGTB, in 2018.

In June 2008, the United Nations Economic and Social Council granted consultative status to FELGTB and COC Netherlands.[1]

History

In 1992 the National Federation of Gays and Lesbians (FELG; Spanish: Federación Estatal de Gays y Lesbianas) was founded, at the proposal of the Collective of Gays and Lesbienas of Madrid (COGAM) and other LGBT organisations based in Madrid following their separation from the historic organisation Coordinadora de Frentes de Liberación Homosexual del Estado Español (COFLHEE).[2]

In time, some groups from different parts of Spain joined the Federation, such as some from Granada and Barcelona, but very slowly. It was the late 1990s when some of the main organisations of the country (Gehitu of the Basque Country, Alega of Cantabria, Gamá of the Canary Islands and the Colectivo Lambda of Valencia, among others) joined FELG in an attempt build unity to pressure for the approval of a law recognising common law partnerships.[2] Currently, more than 30 associations of all types compose the FELGT.[3]

Beginning in 2003, the FELGT was led by Beatriz Gimeno. Previously, Pedro Zerolo and Armand de Fluviá had occupied that position. In March 2007, Beatriz Gimeno decided to begin collaborating with the university and Antoni Poveda came to hold the position of president of the FELGT.[4] In the same meeting it was decided to add the "B" for bisexual to the acronym.[5]

2007 the official name became FELGTB, including bisexual option in the name.

Activism, campaigns, and polemics
The FELGT, along with COGAM, convened the demonstration for same-sex marriage in Spain.

The FELGTB demands legal equality and social respect for diversity, is a promoter and convener (along with COGAM) of the national demonstration on the International Day of LGBT Pride (June 28), and fosters the training of its member associations' activists.[3]

It has presented several controversial campaigns, such as VOTA ROSA ("VOTE PINK")[6] and 2004 NO VOTES PP ("2004 DON'T VOTE PP").[3] Beatriz Gimeno justified this last slogan by pointing out the necessity of a political change to "advance our demands".[7] Esperanza Aguirre, in response to this campaign, stated that sexual orientation doesn't necessarily determine political orientation, and noted that she was convinced that "the majority of gays are going to vote for Esperanza, and are going to vote PP".[8] Ana Botella, number two on the list of the PP in Madrid, limited herself to saying that the demands of the FELGT don't come within the rivalries of the town council.[8]

During the negotiation of the same-sex marriage law in Spain, the FELGT criticized the performance of the PP at various times, especially for presenting as an expert the psychiatrist Aquilino Polaino, who claimed that homosexuality was a pathology.[9] Parallelly, when the Pope visited Valencia, the FELGT participated in the Jornadas Internacionales de Diversidad Familiar (International Conference on Family Diversity) (subsidized by the Ministry of Work and Social Affairs) and signed up for the collective "Jo no t'espere" ("I don't wait for you"), which was criticized harshly by the Catholic media.[9][10][11] Some of those organisations tried to take the FELGT to the attorney general for "the continuous offenses of gay activism".[12]

On April 20, 2007, the FELGT described as "incoherent" Mariano Rajoy's declarations about gay weddings, since he was claiming that if his son marries a man he will attend his wedding, while his party has appealed the same-sex marriage law as unconstitutional.[13]

On April 28, 2007, FELGT launched the campaign Ni un céntimo para quien te discrimina ("Not one cent for anyone who discriminates against you"), coinciding with the income tax filings, encouraging citizens to mark the "social purposes" box instead of the box designated for the Catholic Church.[14]

See also

References
  1. "Defeat for Discrimination, Victory for Inclusion: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Groups Gain Consultative Status".
  2. "Historia de la FELGT" (in Spanish). FELGT. Archived from the original on 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
  3. "Qué es la FELGT" (in Spanish). FELGT. Archived from the original on 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
  4. De B., E. (2007-05-08). "En política vende ser gay; ser lesbiana, no" (in Spanish). El País. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  5. "Conclusiones del reciente congreso de la FELGTB". Heterodoxia. Red de hombres profeministas. (in Spanish). 2004. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-06.
  6. COGAM, Colectivo de Lesbianas, Gays, Transex y Bisex de Madrid. "'Campaña Voto Rosa 2008' de la Federación LGTB de España y la Federació d'Associacions Coordinadora Gai-Lesbiana". Retrieved 2008-01-23.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (in Spanish)
  7. Pastor, Enric (2003-05-09). "'Voto rosa' tirando a rojo" (in Spanish). El Mundo. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  8. Cuellar, Manuel (2003-04-17). "La Federación Estatal de Lesbianas y Gays pide a los ciudadanos que no voten al PP" (in Spanish). El País. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  9. J. P-B., M. (2006-07-01). "El colectivo homosexual lanza un ataque contra la Iglesia, organizaciones familiares y el PP" (in Spanish). ABC. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  10. "El Ministerio de Trabajo subvenciona un congreso de gays "en contraposición" a la visita del Papa" (in Spanish). Iglesia Navarra, La Razón. 2006-05-31. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  11. "El Gobierno subvenciona una fiesta gay junto a la Catedral de Valencia días antes de la visita del Papa" (in Spanish). Periodista digital. 2006-06-09. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  12. "HazteOir.org prepara una denuncia ante el Fiscal General del Estado "contra las continuas ofensivas del activismo gay"" (in Spanish). La Flecha, Europa Press. 2006-07-07. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  13. "FELGT considera incoherentes las declaraciones de Rajoy sobre las bodas homosexuales" (in Spanish). Canarias 7.es. 2007-04-20. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  14. "FELGT inicia su campaña "ni un céntimo para quien te discrimina" coincidiendo con la declaración de la renta" (in Spanish). FELGT. 2007-04-28. Archived from the original on 2007-05-17. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
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