The initiative had a dual purpose. First, economic: Creation of a trans resistance box in Ayala that allows a trans person from Llodio who wants to perform a mastectomy to raise funds for the operation. The second, qualitative, is to promote the interconnection between people from the region and from outside, with the objective of continuity in the future.

In response to this dual idea, the party and politics were combined in the occupied hamlet of the Gardea district of Llodio, with a program that lasted overnight. The afternoon round table was one of the most interesting activities. Five members participated, two from Bilbao (Anna and Be) and three from Aiaralde (Ekain, Ira and Nel).

Nel was unable to attend and replied with a video to the questions raised. Orduña’s neighbor considered “a historic moment” the implementation of such an initiative in the region.

Complaint to Osakidetza

Anna and Be spoke on behalf of the Oz Bilbaíno collective and approached from a political perspective the reality of trans people. The attitude and behavior of the Osakidetza Gender Identity Unit was strongly denounced. “It forces us to feed the monster from the private health system, who asks all transfeminist or anti-capitalist groups,” they denounced. In this sense, they claimed that the trans issue is not an “identity” issue, but “structural” and “material”.

Iraq, Nel and Ekain returned to the subject from their personal experiences. “I was scared before going to the Gender Identity Unit, I didn’t know if I wanted to attend or not,” said Iraq, “Not being binary I had to do a full performance, show me I was a very big man. You have to fulfill the role very well, because otherwise they can leave you out, and having to lie about your identity has emotional consequences.”

A similar experience told Ekain delving into the obligation to identify herself as a girl or boy. “I played with cars and had short hair, but I also liked the Barbies,” he explained, “after visiting the endocrine you go to the psychiatrist. By law you don’t have to go there, but they tell you that if you’re not going to have many problems.”

He also told the experience of the intervention. “I had to go past three surgeons, each told me something different. I went with lots of illusions, but the operation went very wrong, I got lots of pleadings. A similar thing happened to my former partner and in the healing they took a chest head.”

Meanwhile, Nel went to Catalonia to carry out the medical process and did so with the Transit service. Urduñarra called for the need to create a “new public system” that offers “non-pathological support”.

All the rapporteurs agreed that, despite the importance of hormones and surgical interventions, the reality of all trans people does not go through medical processes.

In this sense, they put on the table the importance of the existence of other references, of people who have decided not to undergo surgery or hormones.

City VS Pueblo

At the table there was talk beyond the field of medicine. They talked long and hard about the dichotomy between city and town. Which of the two areas is more habitable for trans people? They concluded that neither one thing nor the other can be idealized.

For example, Ekain said that in Bilbao he has met more people from the LGTB group. “I had no network in Llodio, my friends were loose. I came out of the closet at the age of 12-13 and everyone knew me as the bolle of my course.”

Nel, for his part, explained that he lived “very alone” his transition process in Orduña and recognized that he has often wanted to go to the city. “Right now I can’t decide to go for Orduña because my son lives here,” he said.

But he also recognized that people have “another potential.” “Relations are closer between neighbors and neighbors, and that is what we can take advantage of to stifle solidarity and mutual help, not only between dissident sexual genders, but also with other neighbors,” he said.

On the contrary, Ozene members were more critical of the city. “I have been screaming more in Bilbao than elsewhere, the city is a maca, it cannot be idealized,” Anna said.

Looking to the future

The possibilities of performing the medical process outside the system, experiences in other countries, etc. were discussed throughout the table. Then they gave way to poetry, before food. In the afternoon, leisure activities predominated, such as music bingo, Olympics or concerts.

In this way they managed to far exceed the economic objective of the day, according to the organizers. To do so, they used day material, bar shifts and huts installed by Orbe's house.

Although they have achieved their goal, they do not want to end the road here. They would like to continue feeding the resistance box to respond to other needs that may arise in the future, but they have not yet completed the next step. For the moment, they want to make a full evaluation of the festival.

The Saturday meeting is therefore an initial milestone for the organisers; it is about to see how far the road will go.