Thousands of people walk this Saturday from seven thirty in the afternoon through the streets of the center of Valencia to celebrate LGTBI Pride Day and defend the rights of the collective. "Not one step back" or "we will not go back to the closets" are some of the slogans that can be seen on the banners or the messages that have been launched in the call organized by the Lambda collective.
All this in a very colorful atmosphere, party, music and the usual floats that have paraded from the Albereda Bridge to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento del cap i casal where the end of the party was scheduled. Thus, a river of rainbow flags and also the trans collective has filled the center of the city.
"It is a Pride like I have never seen in more than 20 years," said Fran Fernández, spokesman for Lambda, in statements collected by Europa Press. Fernández has warned that "people are not going to consent to being put back in the closet" or "going back to black and white."
Although the motto of this year's march is "Orgull de totes, drets per a totes", the new political context has marked the demonstration. Already in the previous days, Lambda indicated that the rights of the LGTBI collective must be respected and cannot be cut "as a bargaining chip or key to government" in political negotiations. For this reason, they pointed out that this year's claim, held two days after Vox reaches the Presidency of Les Corts Valencianes thanks to a government pact with the PP that will also lead him to govern the Generalitat, gained more weight.
This is how the Valencian left has also understood it, which in the days prior to the march called for mobilization and vindication of the progress achieved in the face of what they consider a risk of regression. Many leaders of Compromís and the PSPV have attended the meeting.
The response, as the Lambda spokesman explained, has been very positive and, pending official figures, the forecast was to exceed 15,000 attendees last year and reach 20,000, a historic figure.
