Spain: Liberal Gay bosses threaten lawsuit against Queer Anarchists

Trans and queer squatters, along with a radical grassroots radio station, are being threatened with a civil lawsuit and criminal charges by politically connected liberal gays for publicly denouncing their exploitative work practices

TOFUria is one of the various programs hosted by Ràdio Malva, the free radio station of Poblats Marítims (seaside hamlets, now neighbourhoods absorbed by the city of València). It has been on air since 2015, run by people from the local queer community, with a transfeminist, anti-capitalist and intersectional perspective, combining politics and humour. It is the only local radio program focused on queer struggles. TOFUria chose Ràdio Malva because it has been a home for radical ideas and grassroots organising for the last 25 years.

Lambda describes itself as an LGTB+ collective "for sexual, gender and family diversity" founded in 1986. It positions itself as the result of the 1970s gay liberation movement in the Valencian region. While in its inception, Lambda was a horizontal assembly that included many radical anti-capitalist queers amongst its membership, tensions arose around funding sources and political aims, causing the more radical members to leave in the 1990s. Since then, the organisation has been shaped in the way of your usual not-for-profit industrial complex, that is, run as a business with public funding. By positioning themselves as experts on LGBT+ matters, Lambda became the main contractor for the regional government, regardless of which party is in power. In addition to their offices and events throughout the year, Lambda is the organiser of the mainstream Pride parade in the city of Valencia every year, charging a fee to any organisation that wishes to participate.

Despite having their public funding assured, as well as the profits of Pride and other schemes they charge for, last May Lambda's management decided to make a big display of fear-bating regarding future Pride events. Due to the new regional and local governments being a coalition of PP, the center-right party similar to the Tories, and Vox, an openly anti-LGBT far-right party, Lambda claimed that Pride was under attack. While usually running a commercial Pride parade and after-party on the Saturday closest to the 28th of June, this year Lambda announced there would be no party at the end and that their Pride march would be on June 28th. This move would make it clash with the radical queer alternative Critical Pride demo organised by Orgull Crític, a grassroots anti-capitalist queer assembly, since 2018. But what was really going on with Lambda's Pride?

The local government's Diversity Director General (PP) had called a meeting with several LGBT+ organisations to come together and create a Pride event between them all, rather than lead exclusively by Lambda, who until now could pick and choose which entities it allowed to participate. According to Orgull Crític, Lambda's protests are a ploy to continue its 25 year monopoly of the mainstream Pride event and extort more money out of the new government, rather than an honest stance against the rise of the far right. During the previous center-left coalition government, Lambda's funding was increased, which allowed them to expand and hire more staff. They were also set to be one of the main organisers of the Gay Games, sponsored by General Electric (which is on the BDS list). Seeing as they had lost their bid for the Gay Games, as well as political power and money due to the change in government, they accused the PP of pinkwashing, a practice they were happy to participate in with the previous government. Orgull Crític decided to release a statement on June 1st uncovering the story behind Lambda's hypocrisy and unethical practices, running Pride as a business, cosying up to the previous government and exploiting its own workers in the process.

Tensions have been building amongst workers within Lambda recently due to the ongoing situation of exploitation and bullying from the new management since 2021. This culminated in over a third of the staff leaving, either through direct or constructive dismissal. TOFUria was aware of this situation and invited one of the workers who had been fired to talk about their experience on program number 124, March 6th 2024. In June, Orgull Crític released four statements, the one mentioned above and subsequently, after accusations from Lambda management and sympathisers of "doing the far-rights work for them" and "dividing the community", a second one penned by former Lambda workers with more details regarding the mistreatment from management, a third showing the evidence: images of existing sick notes due to the hostile work environment, and a final joint statement by Orgull Crític, TOFUria and Radio Malva, with the support of other radical autonomous collectives, due to the fact Lambda and its director Fran Fernández are attempting to sue them for libel and slander.

The statement from former Lambda employees denounces a toxic work environment where harassment, bullying, silencing and authoritarianism reign free. Staff meetings were dominated by situations where staff were pitted against each other, put under duress and threatened publicly by management. Staff evaluation processes turned into witch hunts. When an employee was targeted, dismissed or went on leave, others were instructed to stop talking to or about their colleague as if they never existed. On top of the attacks to their mental health, they were forced to work on the renovations of the new Lambda offices, such as painting walls in the summer heat (usually well over 30ºC in Valencia) and without adequate ventilation - definitely not part of their job description. The forced renovation work resulted in physical health issues for some employees. In addition to the mistreatment received, it appears that Fran Fernández used his position as director to replace one of the dismissed workers with his husband, almost doubling the salary for that position. The statement ends with a series of demands, such as replacing the current management, a call for boycott, and a request that the parties that Lambda management is friendly with condemn these practices publicly. It specifically targets the former Diversity Director General, who had been made aware of the situation and claimed it was "an inside issue for the company to deal with".

Some former workers have taken Lambda to the employment tribunal, with mixed results due to the difficulty gathering evidence. They believe some current workers were intimidated into not becoming witnesses or forced to side with management in exchange for favours or their own survival. Amongst them was the person interviewed by TOFUria, a migrant racialised woman who was bullied for months and eventually fired. She's still paying off her lawyer's fees, as the compensation the tribunal settled on wasn't enough to cover the expenses. Others have signed non disclosure agreements upon their exit or remain on sick leave.

The day before the court citation against TOFUria and Ràdio Malva arrived, Lambda released a press release claiming that they were under attack. The statement deliberately omitted that the accused are in fact precarious working class trans and queer people themselves. Lambda management were aware that former workers were planning on releasing a statement. They also knew an article was going to be published by La Directa, an independent left-wing Catalan-speaking news outlet, so they decided to retaliate through the court system and their press contacts. Lambda management believed that their institutional power would mean the press would take more notice of them than the former workers. So far, the press hasn't taken their claims seriously and refused to run the version Lambda management is peddling. The press release mentions that one of the persons they wish to sue has another case open against them for threatening another person. There is indeed an open case against a TOFUria member, a working class trans femme squatter with zero income that is being sued by an upper class TERF for writing a tweet complaining about a different TERF, something that Lambda should ideally be sympathetic about as it claims to represent and support trans people. The other member of TOFUria being sued is a local queer historian that has been invited to speak at Lambda events in the past.

Currently Lambda are attempting to persue a civil lawsuit against two of the people running TOFUria and against Ràdio Malva as a whole. The first stage, where they are currently, is mediation. However, it is likely that Lambda will try to escalate the situation. It is believed that they will try to convince the prosecution to turn it into a criminal case. This could result in shutting down Ràdio Malva (the court could declare the station illegal) and custodial sentences for the two individuals targeted, in addition to thousands of euros in fines and court fees. This is an incredibly difficult situation for two unemployed queer squatters from working class backgrounds and an autonomous radio station with zero funding. A civil ruling in Lambda's favour could also result in the end of Ràdio Malva, as it would become too costly to continue running the station. In addition to the legal and financial consequences, it is extremely concerning to see a supposedly charitable organisation not only engage in exploitative work practices, but also threaten the fundamental rights to freedom of press and free speech which Ràdio Malva embodies as punishment for giving a platform to a former employee they abused.

How can we support Ràdio Malva, TOFUria, Orgull Crític and former Lambda staff? For now, they have asked for this information to be shared as widely as possible.

Their statement ends with a quote from Pedro Lemebel: "I don't turn the other cheek / I turn up with my arse, comrade / And that is my revenge". ■

Anarcharlot

TOFUria interview with former Lambda worker https://archive.org/details/124-programa-tofuria-6-marzo-2024-lamb-a-da

First statement from Orgull Crític explaining why there were to be two demos in Valencia on June 28th 2024: https://orgullcriticvlc.noblogs.org/post/2024/06/01/solo-se-queja-lambda/

Statement from former workers at Lambda https://orgullcriticvlc.noblogs.org/post/2024/06/26/comunicat-de-lis-extreballadoris-de-lambda/

Article from La Directa https://directa.cat/catorze-extreballadores-de-lambda-denuncien-assetjament-laboral-per-part-de-lexecutiva-de-lentitat/

Evidence of sick leave from former workers https://orgullcriticvlc.noblogs.org/post/2024/06/30/la-realidad-que-la-ejecutiva-de-lambda-quiere-silenciar-numerosas-bajas-por-cuestiones-de-salud-mental/

Statement from individuals and organisations being sued by Lambda https://orgullcriticvlc.noblogs.org/post/2024/07/04/comunciat-de-les-persones-afectades-judicialment-pel-col%c2%b7lectiu-lambda/

TOFUria episode reading the statement and commenting on Pride-related activities in Valencia https://archive.org/details/133-programa-tofuria-8-julio-2024-presuntamente