Íñigo Lamarca Iturbe (born 13 July, 1959) is a Spanish lawyer and served as Ararteko (

Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

), of the Basque Country between 2004 and 2014. He previously served as president of GEHITU, and is the first gay man to hold the office.

Life

He was professor of Constitutional Law of the

University of the Basque Country The University of the Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, ''EHU''; es, Universidad del País Vasco, ''UPV''; UPV/EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Bilbao, initially ...

, from 1984 to 1994. He specialized in subjects of Basque public law. In May 1994, he joined the

Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

General Meeting, where he was in the position of special services. He has been a prominent activist of the LGTB movement, both in the Basque Country and as founder and president of the Basque Country Gay and Lesbian Association (GEHITU, unite) and the State Federation of Lesbian, Gay, Transsexual and Bisexual (FELGTB). He was professor of Basque in AEK, of the Basque language Rikardo Arregi and of the School of Magisterium of the Diocese of San Sebastián . He was a member of the Euskal Kultur Mintegia (EKM) of the

University of Deusto The University of Deusto ( es, Universidad de Deusto; eu, Deustuko Unibertsitatea) is a Spanish private university owned by the Society of Jesus, with campuses in Bilbao and San Sebastián, and the Deusto Business School branch in Madrid. The Un ...

and the Commission for the Basque university district. He was a member of the ESEI (Euskal Sozialistak Elkartzeko Indarra) political party . Collaborated in the magazine Zeruko Argia . He was elected on 18 July 2004, after a long period in which the post remained vacant, and was re-elected on 8 October 2009, being the first to be re-elected to the post. His mandate expired on 15 of October 2014 and, after a period of vacancy during which Julia Hernando served as Ararteko, on 28 of May 2015, she was replaced in office by the Bilbao jurist Manu Lezertua.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamarca, Inigo 20th-century Spanish lawyers 1959 births Gay politicians Living people Spanish LGBT politicians Spanish LGBT rights activists