The Mossos escort the Hazte Oír bus out of Catalonia with the transphobic messages covered
The Mossos d'Esquadra and the Guàrdia Urbana of Barcelona have immobilized this Thursday the transphobic bus de Make yourself heard en Barcelona. The police action comes as a result of a complaint from the Office for equal treatment and non-discrimination of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In the afternoon, the Catalan police escorted the vehicle out of Catalunya with the transphobic messages covered up.
There is already a precedent in Catalonia, when in 2017 the Generalitat immobilized the bus of shame of Hazte Oír. Catalunya is the only community that has stopped this vehicle on its new tour of Spain. In addition, it is the first complaint processed by this office in Catalunya, which already has a hundred cases to resolve on the table. “In Catalonia we are very clear that they will not pass, we have stopped them ", has declared the Minister of Equality and Feminism, Tania Verge.
The vehicle has reached the Spain Square full of messages against trans people. For example, "the children do not exist» or qualifying the change of sex assignment of minors as «child mutilation”. Some messages that Generalitat considered intolerant. “An act of alleged discrimination cannot be allowed.”, Has expressed Verge. The councilor has defended the precautionary police action as “necessary to protect the rights of trans, non-binary and intersex people".
Aturem to Barcelona aquest bus from @hazteoir in response to the complaint filed by the Office of Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination pic.twitter.com/bHN4sEz1Oz
- Mossos (@mossos) November 10, 2022
Catalan law against discrimination and for equal treatment
La Generalitat has acted applying the Catalan law against discrimination and for equal treatment, approved in December 2020 in the Parlament de Catalunya. It is the first time that a sanction has been imposed applying this regulation. In this case, the messages Make yourself heard It is considered a serious infraction and, therefore, the fine can reach 40.000 Euros. The precautionary measures of this administrative file, initiated by the Generalitat, also provided for the removal of the vehicle from circulation if they continued to maintain the discriminatory messages.
It is not the first time that the Generalitat fine and stops the bus of this organization. In 2017, applying the Catalan Law against Homophobia, Conselleria d'Afers Socials sanctioned them with 1.707 Euros. A measure that was revoked by an investigating judge in 2019. This time, the penalty could be much higher, given that the regulations of the new law provide for higher fines.
Extreme right
Make yourself heard, Association of extreme right and cut ultra-catholic y ultraconservative, it was founded by Ignacio Arsuaga in February 2001. Since 2013 he has been part of the pressure group CitizenGo. These entities are connected to a network of associations at European and international level that work in a anti-gender and anti-LGTBI agenda, economically muscled in the last decade. A recent report from European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights estimated at "at least" 707,2 million dollars the money that these organizations allocated between 2009 and 2018 to try to stop social advances in Europe.