Born in Juneda, in Les Garrigues, Ferran Poca, now a businessman and LGBTQ+ rights activist, spent 35 years exactly what people expected him to be: "I worked at La Caixa bank and became a regional manager with many employees under my supervision and a salary higher than I've ever had." But his life took an unexpected turn: "I heard an inner voice telling me that this wasn't what I was meant to do."

Thousands of people—200,000 according to the organizers, 150,000 according to the Guardia Urbana—participated in the LGBTI Pride parade this Saturday afternoon in Barcelona. The march, under the slogan "Why without diversity the world would be gray. Against censorship and the wave of reaction," began in Plaça Universitat and continued to Passeig de Lluís Companys, where concerts will be held until dawn. The regional minister for Equality and Feminism, Eva Menor, emphasized that "human rights are non-negotiable" and reiterated the Catalan government's "commitment" to these rights "in the face of the wave of reaction that is calling into question this rights-defending agenda." Also among those in attendance were the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni; the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo; and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun.