Mijas is proud and has demonstrated this since early Monday on the streets and corners of the three nuclei of the municipality. The Mijas Town Hall has joined the celebration of the International LGTBI Pride Day with a series of events that have included the inauguration of two corners of diversity in Mijas Pueblo and La Cala. Both points are added to the already known as 'Rotonda de la Diversidad' in Las Lagunas, which boasts a new multicoloured image.
“We are in a social context where we inevitably have to continue claiming, and with an ever louder voice, that everyone has to have the absolute freedom to love those they love, something that is so simple really. Individual freedom that we have to preserve from the municipalities and administrations”, assured the mayor of Mijas, Josele González (PSOE), who, along with other members of the municipal corporation, groups and neighbours, were been present at the reading of a Manifesto in support of the group held at the door of the Town Hall.
This year's celebration has been carried out under the slogan ‘Live, feel and love free’, “chosen with the total conviction that the most valuable thing we have in life is freedom. Freedom to be, freedom to choose, freedom to decide, freedom to feel but, above all, we have to feel free, free from prejudice, free from harassment, discrimination, free from LGTBI-phobia”, read the councillor for Equality and Diversity, Natalia Martínez (PSOE), in the manifesto who pointed out that the rainbow flag is raised at the Town Hall and the two municipal offices of the municipality "because we are a diverse and proud municipality".
The rest of the municipal corporation also wanted to show their "pride" on this day. Daniel Teruel, councillor for the Partido Popular in Mijas, declared that "diversity is love, it is coexistence and it is generosity". "These are things that we have to have in this society and every day we have to be more involved in normalizing circumstances and in seeing that people can freely love whoever they want no matter their sex or political or religious orientation", he said. On his part, the spokesman for the municipal socialist group in Mijas, Roy Pérez, indicated the commitment of his party to this day. “We are here another June 28th and it is a day in which we continue to defend LBTBI rights. That equality and diversity must be respected, always, above all, with great respect”, said Pérez.
“Each one is free to live as he wants and as he can. Always respecting others. On my behalf and on behalf of my municipal group, Ciudadanos, we are going to emphasize today the word 'freedom' and that days like today serve to make the LGTBI groups visible”, argued the councillor for Ciudadanos Mijas Mari Carmen González, while councillor Esperanza Jiménez commented that "freedom begins with oneself and a person who can say, do and love whoever they want is very important".
Neighbours of Mijas have also wanted to join this event. “For me it is a reason for pride, as a neighbour of Mijas, that this day is celebrated. It is a struggle that comes from yesteryear and the fact that we are all here together fighting and taking steps for freedom makes me feel very proud”, said Marian Bueno, from Las Lagunas. Juan José Benítez, a resident of Mijas Pueblo, added that today he only wants to say one sentence: "I would like to continue being me without anyone judging me".
Municipalities network
From the area for Equality and Diversity they recall that, since last year, Mijas has been part of the Network of Proud Municipalities, made up of more than 100 municipalities in Andalusia, and that its objective is to promote awareness and support for the group. Also, they have: “a diversity department, a public service space for LGTBI people and their families, with comprehensive care to guarantee that their rights are not violated and to make their life a little easier. Education, training and awareness campaigns are the three fundamental lines of our daily work”.
Among the actions launched by the council are a free ‘online’ course on attention to affective-sexual diversity for some 150 professionals, which began on June 17th and will run until September 30th; the workshops against LGTBI-phobia that have been given in different educational centres of the municipality or the promotion in the media of a video against LGTBI-phobia entitled "Respecting diversity makes us free."
The facades of the Theatre and Branch Offices are lit up with the LGTBI colours
The facades of the Las Lagunas Theatre and the La Cala Branch Offices were lit up with the colours of diversity and equality on the night of the 28th of June, LGTBI Pride Day, to make this event more visible if possible, as Mijas is member of the Network of Proud Municipalities.
After a day full of events to make this celebration visible in the town, the final act took place with this event chaired by the councillor for Equality and Diversity, Natalia Martínez (PSOE): “this is one more effort to make this day visible and to create awareness about what it symbolizes, because for this we have to make it visible and that is something that Mijas has been doing for a long time and upon which we continue working”, she said before reading the Town Hall's manifesto on the occasion of Pride Day 2021. "We continue to fight to make room in our society for everyone, so that each of us knows that, whoever we love, we can feel free and welcome", said Martinez.
This is necessary visibility in order to raise awareness in society that diversity and acceptance affect many people who, as stated in the municipal motto this year, only want to live, feel and love freely. Like the resident Irene, a trans girl from Mijas, who assured that “I am here to make this day visible, to remind that society has to keep moving forward and that there are many people who just want to live our lives, and that nobody is alone in this, that there are those who accompany us along the way without prejudice”. Because a world that is more diverse and full of options is, of course, a place with less frontiers with room for everyone.
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