Bilbao Bizkaia HARRO closes its tenth edition with a positive outcome and reaffirms its commitment to culture, partnerships and leisure as tools for advocacy.
We denounce the LGBTphobic comments made on social media about our initiative, which seek to reinforce hate speech, as well as those who make partisan use of the LGBTI+ struggle and seek to discredit LGBTI+ Pride in the Basque Country.
Bilbao Bizkaia HARRO concluded its tenth edition yesterday. The warm reception from the public capped off seven days in which culture, entertainment, and above all, activism took center stage. The event was held from the 14th to the 16th in Derio, Santurtzi, Sodupe-Güeñes, and Getxo, where the performances, family-oriented activities, and the rest of the program enjoyed great success. From Thursday until yesterday, Sunday, it was Bilbao’s turn. This final event served as a meeting point for people of all ages, with Saturday being the busiest day in terms of attendance.
BBHARRO celebrates a decade of growth, becoming the leading Pride event in the Basque Country and the Atlantic region. This year, Bizkaia HARRO has unfurled the rainbow of activism across five municipalities in five different regions, more than ever before.
And in each of these events, the public response has been overwhelmingly positive to a clear message defending freedoms. First and foremost, we want to highlight the work of the more than 30 volunteers who work tirelessly behind the scenes at all these events, day after day, edition after edition, to make this initiative and this fight possible.
This weekend, El Arenal in Bilbao and the other BBHARRO gathering points in the Biscayan capital were characterized by the diversity of attendees: 50,000 people of all ages, groups of friends, and families mingled with the music and the messages of empowerment, with a particularly strong presence of young people and LGBTQ+ women. The guided tours exploring the milestones of LGBTQ+ history in the Basque Country were fully booked, and the Ur Parade once again sailed down the river, eliciting knowing smiles and getting many passersby on both banks dancing.
This year’s event poster featured an eguzkilore, a symbol of Basque culture representing protection. Our Pride, like the eguzkilore, is a symbol of protection and visibility, a way to defend the rights of LGBTI+ people. That’s precisely why we deeply value the fact that, throughout these days, countless people have come to the BB HARRO venues, able to live and express their own identities with complete freedom, without fear of judgment, because they felt they were in a safe space. As a movement advocating for and fighting for the rights of LGBTI+ people, our goal is for the entire planet to be a safe and free space. And until that happens, we will continue working. Because it is urgent. Because it is essential. Because the far right is advancing with its messages of hate. Messages we have received on social media these past few days, and which we want to denounce. Messages like “if the ship sank, no one would drown because of the ‘I am queen of the seas’ thing” or “they should take advantage and celebrate because with what’s coming to Europe, this is doomed.” These comments only show how necessary initiatives like the HARRO in Bilbao Bizkaia are.
Nobody is going to stop us. NOBODY. Not even the radicals; not those who have been trying to discredit us as an initiative and as a protest movement these past few days; not those who insist year after year on using our struggle for partisan purposes and are far removed from the demands of LGBTI+ people in the Basque Country; not those who try to impose their ideas by expelling LGBTI+ groups and refuse to accept that diversity is diverse and that all forms of struggle for human rights are valid, legitimate, and complementary. The attendance at HARRO year after year demonstrates that they are not connected to the demands of LGBTI+ people.
Bilbao Bizkaia HARRO has been fighting for 10 years. Launching the largest LGBTI+ advertising awareness campaign; creating an annual agenda for LBTI+ women; promoting initiatives that facilitate the employment of migrants; and organizing a truly inclusive Pride celebration where everyone is welcome. Working year-round on numerous social and cultural initiatives in defense of sexual and gender diversity. And we never tire of saying it…
We will never stop dancing. No matter what anyone says.
