Sitges council: ‘There are too many gay events in Sitges’
By Nick Levine
Sitges council has reportedly turned down a lesbian festival because the town has “too many gay events”.
The OlaGirls Lesbian Festival reports on its website that it will not be going ahead during the weekend of June 6-8 as planned because Sitges council refused to grant beach permits.
Ignasi Garrigó, the Spanish town’s Tourism & Beach Councilman, is said to have told the festival’s organisers that “there are too many gay events in Sitges and there is no room for another one”.
Garrigó reportedly suggested that the OlaGirls Lesbian Festival should be rescheduled to coincide with Sitges Gay Pride, which runs from June 12-16. However, OlaGirls’ organisers say it is now too late to change dates because agreements with hotels and performers have already been made.
The OlaGirls Lesbian Festival team say they have been working alongside Sitges council in the planning of the event since January 2013, and now brand its behaviour “discriminatory and non-professional”.
The town of Sitges, which lies around 35km from Barcelona, has established itself as one of the main gay summer destinations in Europe, and offers two gay beaches as well as numerous gay bars, clubs and saunas.