Gay singers moved on from church in Mallorca

THE Mallorca Gay Men’s Chorus has been told it can no longer rehearse at the Es Convent Shelter.

The Sant Joan de Deu Foundation, which manages the facilities, allowed them to use the centre, but the owners, the nuns of the Dominican Order, have told the foundation that their management agreement would be cancelled if they continued to allow the choir to rehearse there.

The choir director, Joan Lainez, has said that is a ‘homophobic attack’ and that it is not the first time they have been moved on. He thanked the foundation for having allowed them to use the space for several months and explains that they had been giving part of the money made from their concerts to help the shelter as well as letting its residents attend the concerts for free. The shelter is used by people with low incomes or who have been evicted.

He said that they had been preparing the facilities for future events, both theirs and those organised by other cultural groups which had also been allowed by the foundation to use the space.

Meanwhile, the Sisters say that there is nothing discriminatory in their request, but that its use was against church regulations. They explained that the Foundation was allowed to use the facilities to help people in danger of social exclusion but that they did not have authorisation to hire it out to others. They added that the church should be used for worship, prayer and celebrating the sacraments, and not for other purposes.