The Minister of Equality of the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Government, Sara Simón, announced on Wednesday during her visit to the headquarters of the Asexórate association in Albacete that on March 6, the regional government will publish in the Official Gazette a new grant of 107,000 euros aimed at organizations dedicated to the fight for equality, sexual orientation, and against discrimination.
Specifically, the grant will have two lines of aid, one for an amount of 80,000 euros destined for entities focused on equal treatment and non-discrimination, and another of 27,000 euros for organizations whose statutes determine to work for people in the LGTBI communities.
Simón emphasized that in this way, the regional government wants to «launch projects aimed at LGBTI people» and «showcase the work that associations have been doing for the past 50 years in our region.»
According to the minister, the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Government will continue to promote «the commitment to have a more inclusive society» and will foster «associative fabric committed to diversity and equality in Castilla-La Mancha.»
The Minister of Equality cited the Asexórate association as an example, stating that it has been «supporting, informing, and advising many people, especially young people, who at some point in their lives face doubts and questions with the support of sexual education.»
The manager of the association, Natalia Calvo, explained that their organization leads several projects in the field of sexual education and prevention of gender violence.
«We promote the philosophy of sexual education, something important for people of any age to feel their sexuality freely and not be afraid to claim their rights,» detailed Calvo, who stated that last year they assisted around 15,000 young people throughout the province of Albacete, as well as professional teams and families in issues of gender violence or sexual identity.
«We receive many referrals from educational centers to request programs for their own students, either because they have detected a situation of violence or because they need support in the face of doubts about sexual identity,» developed the manager of the association, where they also usually assist «young people accompanied by their families who need support and advice on issues related to transitioning gender.»
Calvo emphasized «the importance of having safe spaces like ours to ask and inform oneself in these kinds of situations,» noting that their organization, in addition to its headquarters in Albacete, also has an itinerant team dedicated to working throughout the province.
The Minister of Equality took the opportunity to warn of the political change that has occurred in the last two and a half years with the rise of hate speech.
«Today we find some political forces in the Castilla-La Mancha Courts calling for the repeal of the Law on Sexual Diversity and the Rights of LGTBI people, which was approved with clear consensus in its day by all political forces and the support of organizations,» highlighted Simón, who valued it «as a social setback» in the face of «the denial of structural inequality between men and women and the existence of the violence we suffer simply for being women.»
The Minister of Equality pointed to the Popular Party for having its actions «conditioned» by Vox and urged the Popular Party «to return to the path of consensus they have had over the past years» so as not to fall victim to «hate speech.»