The Parliament of Catalonia approved this Wednesday the proposal to modify the law against LGTBIphobia presented by the PSC, Junts, ERC, Comuns and the CUP. The new text repeals the previous one and updates the regulatory framework of what was the first regulation in Spain intended to protect the LGTBIQ+ group.
The new features of the text are based on two main points. The first is that the sanctions regime is expanded and the hypotheses that define the offenses are increased, classified according to their seriousness and with fines of between 300 and 500,000 euros.
In addition, work was also carried out to equate the violations with those of the Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination Law, approved six years later, and the hypotheses were expanded to include new realities such as that of intersex and trans people, which barely appeared in the original text.
Specific protection is provided for them and reinforces the “intersectional” approach of the law. Likewise, the duty of public administrations to create spaces of democratic memory of the LGTBI movement is established.
The amendment also includes the right to reparation for the victim and to accessory or alternative measures for the offender, provided that the victim gives consent.
The text envisages the creation of the Comprehensive Care Services Network (SAI for its acronym in Catalan) to coordinate all existing LGTBI services and information points, as well as the reference, care and support centers that must be deployed throughout Catalonia.
Without the PP, Vox or Aliança
Law 11/2014 to guarantee the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex people and to eradicate homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, better known as the Catalan law against LGTBIphobia, was the first Spanish law to be approved to protect the rights of this group.
At that time, the law was approved almost unanimously, with the votes of the PSC, ICV, ERC, CUP, Ciudadanos and Convergència, which on this occasion voted separately from the Unió. The Christian Democrats rejected certain articles of the law, but the PP was the only one to give a categorical “no” to the law.
10 years later, history repeats itself, even though PP and Vox have also joined the PP. From the Popular Party, Belén Pajares warned that his group was considering appealing certain articles to the Constitutional Court because “one group cannot be favored over another”, so as not to provoke “comparative grievances”.
On the other hand, the CPS responded that the law “does not create privileges, but rather strengthens prevention mechanisms”. The CUP expressed itself in the same sense, believing that the original law was loaded with symbolism, while this one is much more “powerful”.
Since the ERC, they have underlined the importance of this law in an era of “trivialization of hatred and the rise of fascism”, while since the Commons, they have wanted to recall that “women and LGTBI people suffer violations and attacks because of a system which does not guarantee their rights”.
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