There are many people who make the decision to leave your country of origin to search for a better and safer lifeespecially those who live in countries at war or with oppressive policies and who are persecuted for their ethnicity, religious beliefs or sexuality and gender.
In this context, the reception service of the Barcelona LGTBI Center, which has offered free and specialized care since 2019, served 670 people in 2023, 151 more than in 2022, and received a total of 820 consultations. The most numerous were related to immigration and asylum.
Specifically, according to data from the Barcelona center, 18.3% of the demands were for immigration and asylumwith a total of 150. These experienced an increase compared to 2022, when there were 86.
Emigrants begin their journey with the hope of seeking a better future, however, in many cases, arrival in the new country can be full of difficulties due to bureaucratic procedures they have to face: regularizing their situation, formalizing the papers or obtaining a residence and work permit, among others.
Thus, the LGTBI Center is a gateway to the social care circuit for people newly arrived in the city and they find themselves in a situation irregular administrative and with very few possibilities of covering their basic needs in a short period of time, given their vulnerability.
“He Rooting for asylum and refuge is a complex issue and, therefore, the demands for the reception service have skyrocketed,” he explains to 20 minutes Andreu Agustin, president of the LGTBI Center in Barcelona. Mainly, they serve people between 18 and 65 years old, expelled from their countries who “need to formalize their roles” and, especially, to LGTBI people who have suffered discrimination.
“We provide this care in collaboration with entities that work in this situation and also with public administration services“says Agustín. Furthermore, thanks to the signing of a new agreement in 2022 with Barcelona City Council and the LGTBI Entity of Catalonia, they reinforced the reception and communication service with the hiring of a second social worker and another person who provides communication support.
The second most frequent request that the center received during the past year were inquiries about administrative and social issues, benefits and social services. Specifically, they received a total of 82 demands on issues related to benefits, which represents 15% of the total demands. These too experience a slight increase compared to 2022when they advised 88 lawsuits on these issues.
Likewise, the number of queries received by the Information and Promotion Service has doubled over these five years, since 3,158 consultations attended in 2019 up to 6,132 that were attended in 2023. According to this entity, the Center has become a reference space for the LGTBIQ+ group in the city, and the figures show its role as a reference space on diversity. sexual, emotional and gender in the city.
Specialized care by social workers
The Center offers information, guidance and first aid services, reception and legal and psychological advice. Specifically, it provides a initial care in which they carry out slow accompaniment to identify people’s needs. In this first contact with the center, “two social workers from the center and the user jointly design an itinerary of their needs”explains the president of the LGTBI Center in Barcelona.
After this first interview, users have the possibility of making inquiries to professionals specialized in the legal field, psychology or the accompaniment of trans people. Thus, they determine if the required needs can be addressed by the center itself or they must refer the user to specialized professionals or to other administration services.
From the center, they make it easier for the user to access a “longer psychological therapyas well as jurists and lawyers who can follow your case in court“says Agustín.
Throughout 2023, specialized services served a total of 352 consultations in the legal field, 459 psychological care and 275 accompaniment specialized for trans people.
The Center will celebrate its annual party on May 18
From the LGTBI Center they develop cycles of activities quarterly with which it leads to debate and reflection on issues around diversities sexual, emotional and gender. “We make workshops, routes, book readings, round tables and many more,” says the president of the center.
Currently, they are celebrating a series of cultural activities with the title “Interferences. collective memories” that will last until May 31. These interferences tell us about “unheard voices, doubts, voids, uncomfortable perspectives, collective gazes”according to what they refer to from the center.
Likewise, they develop a Annual Conferencewith which it brings people, entities and projects into contact from academia, activism and the construction of public policies around the LGTBQIA+ community.
This year, the Downtown Festival will be held on May 18 within the framework of the International Day against LGTBI-phobia, which takes place on May 17, with activities in various parts of the Catalan capital. During the morning, the activities will be aimed at a family audience and will be located in the LGTBI Center of Barcelona and on Comte Borrell street, in the section between Parlament and Marqués de Campo Sagrado streets. In the afternoon, the activity will move to Plaza de Catalunya in Barcelona.
For this 2024, the center wants to put special emphasis on the different neighborhoods, districts and city facilities, as well as to follow improving services that it offers, from the information, dynamization and reception teams.
