“Homosexuals are more important to our tourism sector than all the Chinese tourists put together”, said President Monago at the launch of the campaign today.
He was at a gay pride festival called “Los Palomos”, held today in Badajoz, which is expected to bring 20,000 tourists to the city this week.
Badajoz was famous for having an ancient and extremely irritable Mayor, who was always against the Los Palomos parade.
In fact, his tirades against it only seemed to give it strength, to such an extent that some commentators suspected it was all a marketing ploy. Celdrán won his last election aged 75, and caused an outcry when discussing the festival with the opposition IU leader, called him a maricon (not a nice word for a homosexual). When rebuked, he said he wouldn’t apologise as to make a false apology would make him the maricon. This lead to a huge outcry, stoked by the left wing media such as that prat Wyoming (I refuse to call him “el gran”, as he demands), which eventually lead to a march of 10,000 homosexuals onto the parade, back in 2011.
Celdrán, confronted by the IU leader and the 10,000 homosexuals, was asked if he truly wanted “a bright and exciting city to live in”. Replied Celdrán “people leaving Badajoz remark on what an ancient and noble city it is, which is why the citizens elected a leader who reflects the city”. Quite.
Anyway, Celdrán wasn’t mentioned at today’s party (Badajoz is now ruled by someone else) and Monago launched a series of tourism campaigns that will be aired in gay magazines and media across the EU. The current Mayor of Badajoz reminded journalists that “Extremadura has always been a tolerant place”. (Quote here)
Monago, who is of the PP party, said that he wants Extremadura to be the destination of choice for gays, lesbians, transexuals and bisexuals from across the continent. A market, remarked Monago, which is discerning, trendy, adventurous and, most importantly, with plenty of spending power.
What the devil he thinks they’re going to do when they get there is beyond me – Extremadura is vast, hot and empty, with the occasional herd of pigs. The joke is in the name – you have to be extremadamente duro to live there.
The locals subsist on the many ways to prepare pork with a sideline in Spanish cuisine that apparently includes eating lizards. Just the thing to tempt the trendy gay or lesbian out from the fleshpots of London or Berlin.
Although there may not be many things to see or do in Badajoz, the organisers of this festival have put together a series of events to keep tourists and locals occupied.
Also the most important thing for many people at this type of event is socialising with other people who can relate to them or who accept them for who they are.
People from this city are quite happy to sit out in the sunshine and simply talk to each other – to me this is much more important than any money making tourist attraction.