Senator blames Spain’s debt on gays and NGOs

Controversial Popular Party senator Luz Elena Sanín has claimed that comments attributed to her at a press conference aimed at praising the economic policies of the government of Mariano Rajoy, where she blamed much of the debts built up in the crises as a result of the previous government’s support of “NGOs and homosexuals,” were taken out of context.

No sooner had her comments been uttered than the controversy and opposition erupted, spearheaded rather surprisingly by members of her own party. PP Deputy of Ceuta city government, Francisco Márquez, was first to slam the Colombian born senator’s comments, saying, “I’m not at all in agreement with the belief that Zapatero’s disastrous economic policies were caused by the subsidies received by the collective of lesbians, gays and transgender Spaniards. They are organisations that work for just and legitimate causes and receive subsidies based on current legislation.”

Sanín, a PP representative for Ceuta in the Senate, said former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero had forced the country’s debt to surpass a record €1 trillion with “his favours.”

The Colombian born politician claimed her party had been forced to dip further into the public purse when they came to power in order to pay back the debt from Zapatero’s LGBT subsidies.

JesúsGenerelo, Secretary general of Spain’s LGBT Federation, demanded Sanin withdraw her comments, saying her statements were, “a breeding ground for homophobia, something that the PP should be fighting against. Her party’s endorsement that must be withdrawn immediately.”

“Blaming NGOs and LGBT groups for the government’s public debt is shameful,” Socialist MP Patricia Hernández told online daily El Plural, claiming that Sanín either had to apologise or resign.

“It’s absurd and ludicrous. All it does is display the PP senator’s homophobia, this is what she thinks the socialists’ financial inheritance is.”

No stranger to controversy, the Ceuta senator declared her anti-abortion stance when she declared “all embryos have souls.”