The mobilisation of Bilbao has become particularly important this year for the murders of homosexual people from Gixon that have been known in recent weeks. “We recall the collective attack on a young man in Bilbao under the shout of ‘marikoi’, who was torn apart by his mouth, the recent lesbophobic attack in the Moma room, the collective attack on a young man a few days ago in Amorebieta, the attack in Getxo, and of course we recall the 8 marbles that have been killed in Bilbao in the last few months,” have pointed out the attacks in the rally organized by the

Wave of violence

“We are experiencing a wave of violence, and although the media try to delegitimize and try to feed the morb with these facts, our lives are important,” they claimed in Bilbao, while denouncing that they remain “secondary” citizens before the police or the courts. They have also fought against the City Council of Bilbao and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia to promote tourism and consumerism “cis, gay and white”.

First of all, the coordinator has called for penetration and struggle: “We will always be in favour of self-defense and organization! Fire to the cysheteropatriarchy! Racism and fire to municipal sociophobia! No attack without a response! They will not happen!”

Response to attacks

The one in Pamplona has been one of the most massive mobilizations of the M-17. The organizers recall that homosexuality ceased to be a mental illness officially in 1990 according to the WHO, but since then things have not changed as much as they wanted for the LGTBIQ+ collective: “32 years later, those who violate their heteronorm continue to suffer hate crimes, LGTBIQ+phobic policy, discriminatory laws, harassment in schools by suicide in LGTBIQ+ minors. Today, many of us, in our families, in our social circles or in our work, must silence our identity, our sexual orientation and our gender expression.” They encourage citizens to “break” silence and respond to attacks.