In our country, several associations and foundations welcome young LGTBI victims of abuse, family violence, bullying or other forms of LGTBphobiaNIUS has spoken with one of these young people and with the Eddy-g Foundation that took him in”Unfortunately these situations are much more common than what is thought”, they denounce The young man arrived in Spain from Peru at the age of 15. His mother had come to work earlier, leaving him in his country of origin, but when she found out about his sexual orientation, she decided to bring him to “re-educate” him. “That reeducation became an ordeal for me,” he recounts. “Three were very hard years that got worse as I grew older and had more friends. He had me locked up, he practically didn’t let me out, and when I did I knew that maybe he wouldn’t let me back in. I had to go many times to sleep over at friends’ houses,” he laments. “My only crime was being gay,” he says resignedly. “It was shocking because my little brother, since he was straight, did not put any restrictions on him. He could go out when he wanted and I did not ask him where or with whom he was going, he did not even have a return time. With me he was much stricter. obsessed,” he acknowledges. With her bags on the street and no way to support herself, Fran went for help. “I spent two months in an apartment with people at risk of exclusion because at that time there was no specific place to welcome the LGTBI group,” she details. “I lived with older people who showed some homophobia, so I never discovered my sexual condition. After what I had lived with my mother I felt very vulnerable,” she advances. “Then they informed me that a shelter had just been set up for gays, lesbians and trans people who were on the street because of their sexual orientation and I went there head first,” he recalls. What is the Eddy-gFran Foundation was one one of the first kids the Eddy-g Foundation helped. “When I entered I was a very closed person, very distrustful, but thanks to the volunteers, to the psychological help they gave me, to the fact that they gave me a roof and kept me, to the fact that they helped me find a job, I was able to get ahead,” he says with emotion. “I remember a scared Fran,” says Emeterio, one of the founders of Eddy. “He and most of them arrive like wounded little birds but leave almost like hawks because they have managed to recover.” “Our objective when starting the Foundation was to give them the place, the space and the appropriate help to get out of the hole in which many are, to get them to survive a reality that may be difficult to believe in the 21st century, but that unfortunately it exists,” he says. Emeterio and his partner, Fernando, who used to work in the world of aviation and are now retired, launched this social project a little over six years ago. “Life has been good for us and we wanted to give it back in some way,” he says. “We had suffered for being gay and unfortunately we saw that there were still people, many young people, who continued to suffer in this society because of their sexual condition, simply for being gay, lesbian or transsexual. And we came up with the idea of creating safe places, where they felt safe if they ran away from home or were kicked out by their families,” he says. They were pioneers in Spain. They started with an 8-bed flat that they owned and two years later, during the mayoralty of Manuela Carmena, the City Council gave them another, in this case for four people. “Two floors through which 126 people have already passed and we have been able to help them. It is very gratifying,” says Emeterio. Fran was one of them. “I am infinitely grateful to them. It changed my life for the better in every way,” he explains. “Going from an environment as repressive and authoritarian as the one I lived in to another where you can feel free, where you meet other people who are going through situations similar to yours, where you can talk freely about your experiences and your sexuality, for me It was a radical change,” he says. “It was like he was reborn.” “It is surprising how little by little they return to being themselves and recover their smile”, adds Emeterio. Thirty volunteers, from psychologists to experts in labor issues who advise the boys and girls who come here”, they explain. only the Social Services can take charge”, details Emeterio. “In general we have young people between 18 and 30 years old who continue to be victims of their families. There are boys and girls indistinctly. Gays, lesbians and female and male transsexuals, also some cases of intra-gender violence, and then people who come from other countries where belonging to the LGTBI collective is punishable by jail and even death,” he clarifies. “When they run away or are kicked out of their homes, they come to our apartments with one hand in front and one behind. Without any ability to have a place to live, where to be calm and where to start rebuilding their lives. We help them to achieve it” .One year is the maximum time they can spend on the floor. “That’s the limit. Then it varies according to the case, according to what each person needs. Sometimes it’s a few weeks, others a few months, sometimes the whole year. Once they recover, they find work, they go having their savings plan, feeling strong enough to face the world, they leave to leave the square to other people”. Fran, in black, between Emeterio -with a light blue shirt- and Fernando -with a goatee-, together with the rest of the volunteers of the Fundación Eddy-gniusdiario.esWith a waiting list”We always have a waiting list. The number of people who have this need in our country is very high. We always have full flats,” says Emeterio. “I would say that not even one night is there a free bed. When someone leaves, there is always another one who enters,” he points out. “It is incredible that these things still happen in countries where we believe that human rights are above all else.” They are no longer the only ones who carry out this social work in our country. “There are already more onegés and associations that welcome these people, but they are not enough. When we started the Foundation we thought that our help would be limited to isolated cases, but reality slapped us in the face,” he acknowledges. “It would be necessary to approve a protocol to care for victims of violence motivated by sexual orientation,” he indicates. “When these people can’t get into flats like ours, they find themselves forced into extreme situations, without a minimum of security that allows them to continue with their previous life and they can end up socially excluded,” he denounces. Frank confirms it. “When my mother threw me out for being gay, I thought it was because I came from a country where homosexuality is still frowned upon, but then I have been learning about cases and I have realized that in Spain there is a lot of discrimination in families because of the sexual condition, especially from parents to children. It is very common, more than you think. Which is quite sad and makes you see that there is still much to fight for and that the work of foundations like Eddy-g is very necessary”. A great familyFran says that although it has been five years since she left the flat of the Eddy Foundation, she is still in contact with the colleagues with whom she lived and also with the volunteers of the Foundation. “I feel that they are my family. When we got there we don’t have blood ties because they have cut them, so we form a new family in a way. We call the chosen family,” he explains. “We have a WhatsApp group called Familia Eddy that they created, the people who left the flats in these six and a half years. I think the name of the group says it all. Family. That’s what we are,” he says. Emeterio. “Some of those who left when they have a need continue to ask us for help. Others have become wonderful volunteers, others even donors. It is a very beautiful solidarity group.” “Now I have a good job. I am a page developer web. I work in the IT sector and I’m doing well,” says Fran. “But when I have needed them for something they have always supported me. For example in the pandemic, when I lost my job and was overwhelmed, they lent me a hand. That is priceless, that is why I say that they are like my family. Whenever they I have needed they have been by my side. Isn’t that what families do? “We haven’t had children,” says Emeterio. “Now we have a lot of boys and girls to take care of. We could not be more delighted to do this and to help in this way. Although hopefully one day we won’t need to exist,” he concludes.