I thought LGBT people and allies around the world might want to know about what’s going on in Italy at the moment.
You probably know that the current situation for same sex couples in this country isn’t the brightest. Pretty much no recognition. At all. Now, the government is finally working on a law for registered partnerships that would guarantee some rights to couples and the so-called “stepchild adoption” – though this point, still different from a “full” adoption, is really controversial and could undergo changes.
Opposition came quickly and the most traditionalist side of the country (mainly catholics) organized a “Family Day” to protest against the law – which will be discussed on January 28. But LGBT associations are going to respond. They are all joining forces. They organized manifestations on the exact same day chosen by the traditionalist protestants, January 23 (turning the Family Day into a Family Gay) in 72 different cities all over Italy. And still counting. IT’S GONNA BE HUGE. So Italy is going to look like this:
We really want to make our voices heard. We are tired of being invisible. This is still so far from marriage equality, so far from what many other European countries have achieved. We are stil very far behind, and it’s just not fair. But all those red marks stand for squares that will be crammed with people. All on the same day. All asking for equality. All over the country. And they won’t be able to ignore us anymore.
I wouldn’t usually ask this, but in this case I’d appreciate if people shared this to let everyone know what’s going on in this country.
Gay marriage might have been legalized in the US and in other European countries, but here it feels like we’ll never even have partnership rights :/ this isn’t even the first time it’s been attempted and it’s always been refused for ridiculous reasons.
As always, Italy stands out for lagging behind when it comes to LGBT rights…
PS: Here (in Italian) is a list of the places where it’s organized if anyone who is in the country wants to participate.
