Boti García Rodrigo

Boti García Rodrigo
Boti in 2012
1st General Directorate of Sexual Diversity and LGBTI rights
In office
31 January 2020 – 8 December 2023
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJulio del Valle de Íscar [es]
Personal details
Born
María Dolores García Rodrigo

(1945-05-30) 30 May 1945 (age 79)
Madrid, Spain
Political partyIzquierda Unida
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2005; div. 2012)​
[1]
Alma materComplutense University of Madrid
Occupation

María Dolores García Rodrigo (born 30 May 1945), commonly known as Boti García Rodrigo,[2] is a Spanish professor and LGBTI activist who served as the first General Directorate of Sexual Diversity and LGBTI rights of the Ministry of Equality from 2020 to 2023. As the former president of the Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales (FELGTB), she oversaw COGAM. Additionally, she served as the collective's representative on the United Left electoral lists. The Madrid City Council awarded her the Medalla de Madrid [es] in recognition of her rights advocacy in 2018.[3]

Early life and education

Born in her family home on 30 May 1945, in Madrid. Boti is of Canarian and Valencian descent. She graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and letters in December 1969. She spent more than ten years as a professor before being assigned as a Ministry of Justice official and spending more than twenty years at the Madrid Civil Registration.[4][5]

Activism

Boti started working as an LBTI activist after retiring.[5] She joined COGAM in the middle of the 1990s, rising to the position of vice president before becoming president. He began working for the FELGTB executive in 2000 as the director of institutional relations. He succeeded Antonio Poveda as president of the organisation from March 2012 until 2015.[6][7] Currently, she is a member of the advisory committee.[8]

At Gaspar Llamazares' request, Boti ran with Izquierda Unida (IU) in 2004 for the Congress of Deputies, representing Madrid with the number 6.[9] In protest of the "intolerance" of the Catholic Church and the backing of the Popular Party (PP), she joined the kiss organised by the FELGTB in front of the Almudena Cathedral the same year on behalf of IU.[10] Approximately 300 gays took part in the kiss. In 2008, she ran again with IU, this time placing seventh on the list,[11] and in 2011, she did the same with Equo, placing sixth.[7][12] She was the first lesbian president of an LGBT organisation to hold that post in Spain.[13]

By royal order 219/2020, Boti was appointed on 31 January 2020, as the General Directorate of Sexual Diversity and LGTBI Rights of the Ministry of Equality.[4] She acknowledges that although lesbians were obliged to remain invisible during the Franco era, they were fortunate to be spared the homophobia of patriarchy and national Catholicism, whereas transgender individuals were the ones who suffered most.[14] She ended her tenure as general director on 8 December 2023.[15]

Personal life

In December 2005, following a decade-long relationship with fellow activist Beatriz Gimeno, they married under the direction of Inés Sabanés, with Councilor Pedro Zerolo of the PSOE and Luis Asúa of the PP in attendance.[16] 110 people attended the event, including Llamazares, the IU general coordinator, Leire Pajín, the secretary of state for international cooperation, Iñigo Lamarca, the Basque Country's ararteko, Almudena Grandes, the writer, and Luis García Montero, the poet.[17] As of right now, she is divorced.[18]

Awards and recognitions

Boti was one of the seven recipients of the Adriano Antinoo Awards II Edition, which were given out on 7 April 2013, by the Sevillian LGBT group and the Cajasol Foundation in recognition of her fight for human freedom and equality.[19] 2019 saw her get the State Award for Social Volunteering in its particular form.[20]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Berberana, Elena (15 July 2020). "Boti García celebra el "Día de la Visibilidad no Binaria" y deja en shock a miles de usuarios". Libertad Digital (in European Spanish). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  2. ^ Morales, Clara (2 August 2021). "Boti García Rodrigo: "Ser lesbiana me salvó la vida, me hizo libre"". infoLibre (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Boti García Rodrigo: "Los políticos gais del PP son unos caraduras y unos hipócritas"". www.publico.es. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b "María Dolores -Boti- García Rodrigo". transparencia.gob.es (in Spanish). 4 February 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Boti García Rodrigo archivos". Editorial Dos Bigotes (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  6. ^ Por Javier López Macías (13 May 2018). "Boti García Rodrigo: "Madrid no se merece el Ayuntamiento de las peras y las manzanas"". www.madridiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Boti García Rodrigo, elegida presidenta de la FELGTB". www.publico.es. 25 March 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  8. ^ "El VIII Congreso de FELGTB elige a Uge Sangil como su nueva presidenta". www.felgtb.org. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  9. ^ "IU incluye en sus listas a la presidenta de la coordinadora gay". eldia.es (in Spanish). 30 January 2004. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  10. ^ "300 homosexuales se besan ante la Almudena contra la 'intolerancia' de la Iglesia católica". www.elmundo.es (in Spanish). 6 March 2004. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  11. ^ "El arcoiris del ecosocialismo". www.publico.es. 13 November 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  12. ^ Castro, Natalia (23 June 2017). "Estos son los políticos españoles que han reconocido su homosexualidad". El Plural (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  13. ^ Europa Press (26 September 2011). "Equo elige en primarias a Sabanés como número dos de la lista por Madrid". www.europapress.es. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  14. ^ Garcia, Blanca (10 August 2021). "Boti García Rodrigo: "Ser visible y ser orgullosa como norma de vida"". EFEMINISTA (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  15. ^ Fernández, J.I. (5 December 2023). "Ana Redondo recluta a Julio del Valle como nuevo director para la Igualdad real de las personas Lgtbi+". El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  16. ^ Benito, Emilio de (8 May 2007). ""En política vende ser gay; ser lesbiana, no"". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  17. ^ "Dos históricas activistas lesbianas se casan | elmundo.es". www.elmundo.es. 17 December 2005. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  18. ^ Benito, Emilio de (16 May 2012). ""No quiero que me metan en el armario otra vez"". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  19. ^ "Boti G. Rodrigo, premiada por la asociación Adriano Antinoo". www.felgtb.org. 4 April 2013. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  20. ^ "Resolución de 26 de septiembre de 2019, de la Secretaría de Estado de Servicios Sociales, por la que se conceden los Premios Estatales al Voluntariado Social 2019". www.boe.es. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  21. ^ "Boti García Rodrigo dedica su medalla al Madrid de las "subversivas" y el de las calles "teñidas de arcoíris"". www.publico.es. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  22. ^ Costantini, Luca (15 May 2018). "Carmena entrega la Medalla de Oro a la actriz Concha Velasco y la activista LGTBI Boti García". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 12 July 2024.

Bibliography