Rise of far right fuels LGBTI activism, says Observatory Against Homophobia

June 20 was a muggy summer day in Barcelona like any other. At around 1:30 pm at the Clot-Aragó commuter train station, a trans woman was about to go through the turnstile when she realized someone was trying to cut through with her. When she stopped them, she was met with a barrage of homophobic and transphobic insults as well as an attempt at physical violence.

This is but one of the many instances of homophobic and transphobic violence the Barcelona-based Observatory Against Homophobia (OCH) has reported so far this year. 

With cases, mostly self-reported, seemingly on the rise this year, Catalan News spoke with the OCH's Albert Carrasco to discuss this phenomenon. 

Does more hate speech lead to more discrimination? 

We noticed that when [the trans law] was in the process of being approved, the media would interview professionals about their opinion on the law's content, and we found that some described it as an aberration, that it set out to give children hormones and whatnot. There have been people who have expressed their opinion in a very forceful and rude way and we've noticed an uptick in hate speech against trans or LGBTI people on social media. We've found that the trans law has given way to increasingly intense debates. 

Hate speech and the far right, on the one hand, are on the rise, but the social alarm this has sounded in the LGBTI community has encouraged further activism on their part because they see that their rights are in danger and this also empowers them more to report discrimination. 

How common is discrimination against the LGBTI community in Catalonia?

In the first six months of 2023, we've reported 160 instances of LGBTI discrimination in Catalonia. Considering we ended last 2022 with 237, we're on course to surpass that figure this year. June and July, during Pride, tend to be when people report these instances to us the most because it's when the community is more present in the public sphere and in debates.

What kind of discriminatory incidents do you see? 

Here at the Observatory, we take note of discrimination that a person or part of the community suffers due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We verify whether the discrimination was motivated by that, and it doesn't need to entail physical violence. 

We most frequently get complaints from gay men, about instances that take place in public spaces, verbal assaults and hate speech… and there's also been an increase in complaints from the trans community, not just aimed at individuals but the trans community in general. 

Most of our complaints are from gay men. But does this mean gay men are the most discriminated against community? No. It's because they feel the most comfortable reporting these instances with us. We've had more trouble, generally speaking, reaching women.