News

• The “Plumas de Pueblo” initiative brings together nearly 70 groups, associations and projects that promote sexual and gender diversity in towns and regions throughout Spain.
• The interactive map seeks to dismantle stereotypes about rural areas and connect experiences that promote support networks and community.
• “Plumas de Pueblo” emerged within the framework of “Proyecto Hortensia”, an initiative that promotes positive narratives about trans and non-binary people

The “Plumas de Pueblo” project has launched an interactive map that compiles LGBTQIA+ initiatives, associations, and spaces present in municipalities and rural areas throughout Spain. The tool was created to highlight a reality that has often remained out of the spotlight: the existence of diverse communities that create spaces for meeting, support, and participation in rural areas.

Driven by the “Hortensia Project ,” the initiative brings together around 70 projects from different autonomous communities and aims to demonstrate that sexual and gender diversity is also part of everyday life in rural areas. In addition to raising awareness of these initiatives, the project seeks to strengthen connections between them and offer a broader and more diverse image of rural territories, moving away from the stereotypes that have traditionally defined them.

A map to highlight diversity in rural areas

For years, the prevailing narrative has associated cities with spaces of freedom for LGBTQIA+ people, while rural areas have been portrayed as less diverse or even unwelcoming. In contrast to this view, “Plumas de Pueblo” (Village Feathers) offers a new perspective based on real-life experiences that demonstrate how diversity also organizes, participates, and builds community in towns and villages.

The mapping project brings together initiatives of different kinds that share a common goal: to create safe spaces , strengthen community networks, and celebrate diversity as part of the identity of rural areas. These initiatives include:

• LGBTIQA+ associations and groups.

• Rural pride and festivals.

• Cultural and community spaces .

• Mutual support networks .

• Awareness and social participation projects.

A network to connect experiences and transform the rural narrative

Beyond simply locating initiatives on a map, the project aims to promote exchange between groups that, in many cases, carry out their activities in small municipalities with little public visibility.

The tool allows us to verify that, although many of these experiences originate from the local level, they share common challenges related to the creation of meeting spaces, the generation of support networks and the promotion of more inclusive communities.

Likewise, “Plumas de Pueblo” highlights the role of these initiatives as agents of social revitalization in rural areas , contributing to strengthening community cohesion and combating the isolation that some people may experience in territories with lower population density.

At the same time, the project invites us to rethink the traditional image of the rural environment, showing that it is a diverse and constantly evolving territory, where new forms of social participation coexist with the identities and traditions of each region.

Project Hortensia: the origin of the initiative

“Plumas de Pueblo” arises from the work developed by “Proyecto Hortensia”, an initiative created mostly by the Laintersección collective and promoted to foster positive narratives about trans and non-binary people and encourage greater empathy and knowledge of these realities.

After an initial phase that began in 2022, the project evolved in 2025 into a community that brings together organizations, activists and people interested in promoting new ways of communicating about gender diversity from a constructive approach.

Currently, the community is developing different lines of work, among which the following stand out:

• Research on trans and non-binary narratives.

• Training on communication, narrative change and strategies against hate speech.

• Awareness and dissemination campaigns on social networks.

• Support for spokespeople and collaboration with media outlets.

• Creation of digital spaces for meeting and learning.

• Development of resources aimed at fostering empathy and support for trans people.

In this context, “Plumas de Pueblo” expands this work by incorporating a territorial perspective that focuses on the experiences developed in rural areas and on the importance of building support networks among different groups.

An open and constantly growing tool

Since its launch, the map continues to receive new contributions from associations and projects that wish to be part of this collaborative cartography. In this way, the initiative aims to become a living resource that continues to document the diversity of rural areas and helps strengthen connections among those working to build more inclusive communities.

Taken together, “Plumas de Pueblo” offers a new way of approaching the territory, showing that sexual and gender diversity are also part of the daily reality of rural areas and that there are numerous initiatives that, from the local level, promote spaces of coexistence, participation and mutual support, contributing to building a more diverse and inclusive rural environment.