EDATV Badenas Rejects Municipal Acts Supporting the Lgtbi Lobby and Criticizes the Gay Games
Valencia's second deputy mayor on the Gay Games: 'It's not necessary to put labels, there are already sports competitions for everyone'
The Municipal Group of Vox in València's City Council, led by its spokesperson Juanma Badenas, has rejected any act of institutional support for the LGTBI collective promoted by the council, stating that "sports don't need labels." The party has made it clear that they won't support the training day organized by the Municipal Sports Foundation (FDM) on the occasion of the International Day Against LGTBIphobia in sports, nor the awareness campaign promoted by the City Council.
Badenas has been adamant in his stance on the Gay Games, the international competition that València will host in 2026: "Our opinion remains the same. There's no need to put labels, there are already sports competitions for everyone," he declared. Vox believes that events like this respond to an "ideological agenda" that, in their opinion, politicizes sports instead of promoting its universality.
Criticism of the Municipal Strategy
Vox's spokesperson has accused the City Council of essentializing sports for political purposes and has described the awareness actions promoted by the municipal corporation as "unnecessary." "We reject the allocation of public resources to foster artificial divisions. Sports should be inclusive by nature and don't need ideological campaigns for that," he asserted.
In the same vein, Badenas has questioned the funding of the Gay Games and the Jocs Taronja, the LGTBI sports tournament that will be held in València in 2025 as a prelude to the 2026 Games. "It doesn't make sense to dedicate public funds to promote sports events with an ideological bias when there are more urgent needs in the city," he added.
Meanwhile, the municipal government team has defended the importance of these initiatives to ensure inclusion and diversity in the sports field, stating that València will establish itself as an international benchmark in the fight against discrimination in sports. However, Vox insists that they will continue to distance themselves from any event they consider "imposes an ideological narrative from the institutions."
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