The PP and Vox leave the Toledo City Council without an LGTBI flag: "One step back"

Five days after the creation of the new Toledo City Council Corporation, where the PP will govern in coalition with Vox for the next four years, the first protests by representatives of the LGTBI collective have taken place in the city as the first activity cannot be carried out of the XVI Cultural Week Toledo Understands: the placement of the rainbow flag on the balcony of the Consistory.

“We don’t know why they don’t put it on. Let’s see if between now and the 28th -International LGBT Pride Day- they can put it up”, stated Ricardo Vicente, president of the Bolo-Bolo Castilla-La Mancha Association, after the meeting he held for two hours with the Councilor for Social Affairs, Inclusion, Family and the Elderly, Soledad Illescas (PP). “They have said – the PP councilors – that if she were up to them she would be on, but that they have to count on the rest of the Government,” he added.

According to the representative of the collective, organizer of this cultural and protest event, the new mayor has told them that they have not had time to discuss with the councilors of Vox – whose leader, Inés Cañizares, holds the vice mayor’s office – the placement of this flag, a symbol that has been present since 2016 on the balcony of the City Hall, first with a government of PSOE and Ganemos and then with the socialists alone.

The placement of the flag was scheduled at 12:00 noon, but once the meeting in which Vicente was present in the Town Hall itself ended, representatives of the collective have been photographed with a flag in the Town Hall square and have chanted protest against this decision: “It shows, it feels, Toledo understands.”

“They have given us an excuse that since they have not been here for a short time they have not had time to decide. It would have to be up, it’s something that has been decided since February”, exclaimed Vicente, who has demanded that “the flag be put up” in the Consistory. However, regarding the activities planned this week, he points out that they will be held and that the PP councilors have also promised to attend some of them.

“They do not say that they do not want to, it is that they are thinking about it. June 28 will arrive and we will see if the flag has been put up”, affirms the president of the Bolo-Bolo Association, who stresses that they have held a “cordial” meeting and that they will maintain contact with other institutions such as the Government Delegation or the Community Board to be able to install the LGTBI flag in the respective headquarters they have in the city.

Flags on the balconies and demonstration

In this sense, Vicente has encouraged the citizens of Toledo to “hang flags on their balconies” and to participate en masse in the demonstration that is scheduled for next Saturday, June 24 at 8:00 p.m., under the motto ‘ I respect diverse families’.

“This year it is more important to go to the demonstration and since the flag is not placed in the City Hall, the streets will have to be filled. This for us is a step backwards, it was a right achieved”, indicated the representative of the group.

While Vicente was meeting in the Town Hall, other representatives of the association, as well as the PSOE municipal group and Sumar’s candidacy for 23J in the province of Toledo, have also chanted in front of the gates of the Town Hall demanding the placement of the flag At that moment, a PP councilor, Iñaki Jiménez, entered the room without addressing any of those present.

The councilor of the PSOE Nuria Garrido has spoken about the situation, who has indicated that it would seem to them “an error that the flag was not put up because of the values ​​of equality and coexistence that it represents.” “The citizens of Toledo have always been characterized as a diverse city. It would be a disappointment if it is not put up even for its voters. They will face us if they follow that path. The mayor, Carlos Velázquez, spoke in an interview that the LGTBI issue was not serious and we talked about human rights, something very serious.