PP and Vox reached an agreement yesterday to request that all libraries owned by the Generalitat Valenciana, as well as municipal libraries in towns with more than 25,0000 inhabitants, create “a specific section on sexual, family, gender and of sexual development that respect human rights. The text, approved this Thursday in the Education Commission by the votes of both parties that govern together in the Generalitat, adds that “these contents will be sequenced by educational levels and prepared under standardized criteria from a scientific, objective and non-doctrinal point of view. “.

The careful wording is due to an amendment by the popular ones who chose to soften the proposal of their partners, who demanded the transfer of the books to the newly created section and, above all, that it be “independent of the rest of the sections, in special of the children’s section”.

Vox did not hesitate to accept the changes proposed by its partners and the initiative went ahead. This Non-Law Proposition had votes against from PSPV and Compromís, who described the debate proposed by Vox and endorsed by the PP as “regrettable” and “sad.”

Both popular and voxistas justified their proposal by complying with current legislation. Vox placed emphasis on the Library Law of the Valencian Community, which indicates in its article 20 that “the network centers will have content on sexual, family, gender and sexual development diversity that respects human rights. “In municipalities with more than 25,000 inhabitants, they will form a specific section.”

For her part, the PP deputy, Marisa Gayo, recalled that it was the Law on Equality for LGTBI people that the Botànic approved in 2018 that called for creating specific sections for content on sexual, family, gender and gender diversity. sexual development.

While the popular ones strove to defend an education “in diversity” and recognized that there are “many types of families”, the Vox deputy Jesús Albiol preferred to focus his intervention on protecting children – he spoke of the “innocence of children” – and in guaranteeing the freedom of parents who consider that the content is inappropriate for minors.

Albiol gave as an example the Burriana City Council, of which he is a councilor and which has already approved this measure. The management of this council – of which Albiol is responsible for Culture – has been very controversial due to the decision to cancel subscriptions to magazines in Valencian.

All in all, Albiol boasted that his party and the PP, despite the differences, have been able to reach agreements “in favor of the majority.”

The opposition doesn’t see it that way. José Chulvi (PSPV), who criticized “the acrobatics of the PP” for not voting against the proposal of his partners, described it as “sad” and “regrettable” that this debate leaves the scope of the criteria of professionals and defended that Valencian librarians comply with the law. Likewise, Chulvi expressed his concern that by removing these types of books, the people who consult them could be pointed out.

For her part, the Compromís deputy Verònica Ruiz accused PP and Vox of making a poor interpretation of the regulations and of ignoring the criteria of the Col·legi Official de Bibliotecaris i Documentalistes de la Comunitat Valenciana which, in a letter presented to Les Corts , indicate that “the children’s sections of libraries, with professional criteria, do not contain inappropriate content for children and are formed with criteria of quality and adaptation to the needs of the user community.”

The librarians point out in their report – to which La Vanguardia has had access – that “no material with a specific content should be in a specific section that has not been decided with a professional and independent criterion of the library staff” and they point out that “the Group “Vox Parliamentarian with this proposal demonstrates a great lack of knowledge of Valencian libraries.”