Venice’s new mayor feuds with Elton over gay rights
For a city so beautiful, things are suddenly getting very ugly in Venice. The City of Bridges is quickly sinking into a quagmire of its own making as its newly elected mayor stands accused of homophobia.
“There will never be a Gay Pride (parade) in my city,” Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told a local newspaper on Wednesday. “Let them go and do it in Milan, or in front of their own homes.”
Some Venetians fear Brugnaro is disgracing the city. But Venice’s gay pride debate is also part of a raging national debate over gay rights.
Italy is one of the few European countries that still does not recognize same-sex unions, according to the New York Times. And the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that the country’s conservative marriage laws were a human rights violation.
Controversy is nothing new for Brugnaro, a centre-right businessman elected in June after vowing to pull gay-friendly children’s books from preschool libraries.
Brugnaro made good on his election promise, immediately announcing that he was banning 49 kids’ books. That unleashed a fierce outcry from national and international groups. Nearly 300 Italian authors asked that their own books also be banned in solidarity with the same-sex stories.
Brugnaro’s biggest critic, however, has proved to be another Venetian (at least on paper).
Elton John, who owns a house in Venice, came out forcefully against Brugnaro’s edict. In an Instagram post praising gay-friendly children’s books, John, who has two boys with husband David Furnish, slammed the “extremely silly looking mayor of Venice.”
“He’s stupidly chosen to politicize children’s books by banning titles that touch on same sex families living happily ever after,” the singer wrote. “So instead of encouraging a world based on inclusiveness, tolerance and love, he’s championing a future society that’s divisive and fosters ignorance.
“Beautiful Venice is indeed sinking, but not as fast as the boorishly bigoted Brugnaro.”
Brugnaro defended himself in a series of tweets, saying he had “no problem with homosexuals” but accusing John of abandoning his adopted city.
While John’s comments “represented the arrogance of someone who is rich and can do whatever they want ... I have to think about the majority of families where there is a mother and a father,” he said.
Brugnaro’s latest broadside is sure to refuel his feud with John. It was delivered in an interview with newspaper La Repubblica, in which the mayor was asked about his critics, including John.
“They use Venice to make headlines in the newspaper,” he said. “I am on the side of those who work and produce, families with children
At the moment he is governing it, but he won’t last long given the fool he is making of himself.
who struggle with difficulty.”
Asked about John’s criticism, Brugnaro replied: “He is haughty and has not set foot in Venice for three years.”
His comments again drew a rapid response from gay rights advocates.
“Venice is not his city,” Flavio Romani, president of Italian gay rights group Arcigay, told Reuters. “At the moment he is governing it, but he won’t last long given the fool he is making of himself.”