The Government of the Generalitat de Catalunya, through the Oficina d'Igualtat de Tracte i Non-Discriminació, has imposed a financial sanction of 20,000 euros on the far-right organization Make yourself heard for the bus that contained messages contrary to trans people and that circulated through Barcelona on November 10. The Catalan Executive has announced that, in addition, it prohibits the entity from receiving public subsidies and contracting with the Generalitat for five months.
The Government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, explained that the resolution obeys what is stated in the law on equal treatment and non-discrimination approved in 2020 by the Parliament. "Hate speech has no place in Catalonia," Plaja stressed.
On November 10, a bus from the Hazte Oír association circulated through the city of Barcelona as part of a campaign against the Trans law that covered the entire Spanish territory. Precisely, printed on the exterior body of the vehicle read the motto "
Six months later, the sanction arrived from the ministry led by Tània Verge, which has already been communicated to Hazte Oír, as explained by Patrícia Plaja. This is the first sanction imposed by the Office, which is dependent on the Department of Equality and Feminism, and which started in the early stages of the current legislature.
The resolution of this body considers that the messages displayed on the bus chartered by Hazte Oír "had the objective of undermining the enjoyment or exercise under equal conditions of the right to personal autonomy" for reasons of sexual or gender identity. It also establishes that the messages "intended to violate the dignity" of trans and non-binary people and "deny their" existence and identity." In the opinion of the Tracte Equality Office, this campaign contributed to "creating a discriminatory climate and contempt" towards this group of people.
As a result of these arguments, it dismisses the acts as a serious infringement and imposes a financial penalty of 20,000 euros on the association and the prohibition of receiving public aid or subsidies for five months and contracting with the Generalitat for the same period of time.
According to the Government, the decision reinforces the Office as a tool to "advance towards a horizon" with "feminist, anti-racist common sense and against all discrimination".
