Lesbians, gays, trans, intrasexuals, bisexuals, non-binary people, transgenders, here we are, celebrating our bodies, celebrating our desire, celebrating that we are who we are, without apologising or asking permission to enjoy our desire and our sexuality.

Happy Pride Day!

We are also celebrating by thanking, with profound gratitude, all the generations that came before us and risked bodily harm, or even their lives, so that we could be here today. And in particular let us remember the La Rambla demonstration of 1977, where trans women and transvestites were pioneers, leading the way so that we could continue making progress on human rights today. All of our recognition and all of our gratitude.

We are here to celebrate, and celebrating means continuing the struggle. Because, as preceding generations have taught us, rights and freedoms are won and won again every day, because if not they may be lost.  And we are here today to continue gaining space for freedom and happiness, for our children, because we don't want our children to be afraid of being who they are. So that they never have to hide, they never feel shame, that they never feel excluded from their own homes or their school, or anywhere else. So that our children can grow up free and happy.

And we are here because we cannot remain silent on 28 June. Even though Covid is still with us and we have had a really hard year. It is precisely because it has been such a hard year that we deserve this. We deserve to be here celebrating, even though we have masks and a smaller audience. But we have to be here. We have to be here to celebrate, to enjoy ourselves, because we deserve it, but also to continue fighting together, everyone united. We can't leave anyone behind and we cannot let them divide us.

As some colleagues were saying earlier, within the LGBTI movement there are also power relationships, and there are also relationships of privilege. And being a white person with papers is not the same as being a racialised migrant, suffering under the Foreign Nationals Act, which is completely racist and should be brought down. And in a capitalist society, being an LGBTI person with money is not the same as being one without. We therefore have to fight together, so that no one, absolutely no one, is left behind.

And we have to continue fighting for and winning rights every day. And we have to give thanks to the trans group, because, finally, the Transgender Act will enter the Council of Ministers, thanks to all of your struggle. Tomorrow the Transgender Act will be law. And we will continue to make progress, because no one can stop us.

And we are not afraid because we are a proudly diverse city, we are an LGBTI city, we are a brave city, but we are not naive. We know that the far right is making headway, in Europe and here at home, and it is even reaching our institutions, something that we cannot allow. We cannot allow fascism and hate speech to continue prospering with impunity.  It is also happening here at home. In our streets there are still assaults, discrimination and violence against people from the LGBTI community.

I ask you for your attention for a moment, as I’m a little emotional, because today, we are accompanied by two people who were badly assaulted on the streets of Barcelona during the Sant Joan festival. And I ask you for a huge round of applause so that they can feel all our affection and all our strength and that here, no one is ever alone. They will not manage to make us afraid or make us stay at home and stop enjoying ourselves, to stop being who we are, or dressing in another way. We are here, this is who we are, we will enjoy ourselves and we will not hide.

I offer all my gratitude to these two people who experienced a very traumatic situation but agreed to come here when I invited them, because I believe it is very important for all of us to be here together, because we cannot allow hatred to make progress.

Everyone must know that in Barcelona we have made progress with the LGBTI groups which defend rights and freedoms, not only on 28 June, but every day of the year. Because every day of the year should be 28June. Together with these groups, we have opened an LGBTI centre, which is a pioneering, benchmark institution in Europe. We also have an Office for Non-Discrimination, where anyone who suffers an assault or an act of discrimination in the city of Barcelona should know that they are not alone, that they will have all the free psychological, emotional and legal support we can provide. And that we will appear in serious cases as Barcelona City Council. Because we will not allow hatred to make headway in Barcelona's streets and squares. Barcelona's streets and squares are ours, they belong to all of us, and no one will take that away.

And I will finish by offering you my thanks, because in spite of Covid, in spite of LGBTI-phobia and despite hate speech, we are here, vindicating ourselves, celebrating ourselves and fighting together. And together, we will continue to make progress on rights and freedoms. The representative from Pride said before that we are very happy to have been able to organise this event in such a short time, because we thought that the normal thing would be to postpone the main events until September, so we could do them with smaller audiences and without masks. But at a time like this, on 28June, where the far right and hate speech are on the rise, Barcelona couldn't stay silent. And that is why we are here, because Barcelona never remains silent and will never remain silent, and I hope that today, you will dance, have fun, shout, enjoy yourselves, love each other, hug each other and let no one silence you, ever.

Carry on, and let love win out over hate.

Thank you!