Ten years after the passage of a pioneer bill, the parliamentary parties mean to reform its content, thus safeguarding the policies and services for LGBTI collectives

Esquerra Republicana, PSC–the Catalan branch of the Spanish Socialists– along with centre-right Junts per Catalunya, and left-wing Comuns and CUP, have introduced this initiative to consolidate the work advanced during the last legislature along with new proposals, with the aim of bolstering LGBTI rights and eradicating LGBTI-phobia. Ten years after the pioneer law was passed, the groups mean to reform its content to protect policies and services for these collectives and to reinforce the duty of the administrations to prevent and redress discrimination and violence.

The draft pursues the reform of law 11/2014 guaranteeing the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersexuals, and to eradicate homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, which began during the last legislature, at the initiative of the Observatory against LGTBIphobia and the CUP party. The text now introduced includes the development agreed upon for the draft based on the testimonies of the organizations and the amendments presented by the parliamentary groups. Thanks to the efforts made during the last legislature, the objective of the groups is for this reform to be approved in the next Parliamentary session. For this reason, it is being forwarded with extreme urgency, with the support of organizations and representatives of the LGTBI movement and the National LGBTI+ Council. Likewise, during the passage of the bill, recommendations and amendments by the collective and experts in the field may be included.

This comprehensive reform of around fifty articles includes aspects such as the inclusion of lesbophobia within the title to amend the deficiency in the current title of the present law, the harmonization of the penalties provided in Law 11/2014 with those of the Law on Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination, the incorporation of the various forms and areas in which it is exercised and where it may occur, the classification of the use of conversion therapies as a severe offence, and the safeguarding of the Comprehensive LGBTI Care Services Network, among other features.

The text promoted by the five parliamentary groups also extends and determines the responsibility of the administrations to eradicate LGBTI-phobia, both preventively and in the reparation for victims. The groups also propose mandatory training for institutional staff, the need for the media to be committed to this end, and the recognition of victims of the LGBTI movement through memorials and initiatives to publicize the struggle and resistance by this collective, and the discrimination they have suffered over time.