Attack on gay couple in Rome prompts calls for anti-homophobia law
Italian politicians and activists have called for the urgent approval of a law that would criminalise violence against LGBT people following a homophobic attack in Rome.
Jean Pierre Moreno was punched and kicked by an aggressor at a metro station in Rome after kissing his boyfriend, who was hit in the eye. The incident was captured on video and shared by the activist groups Gaynews and Gaynet Roma on Sunday night. Moreno told Gaynews: “While my boyfriend and I were kissing, we suddenly heard a man shout from the other platform: ‘What are you doing? Aren’t you ashamed?’” The man then crossed the tracks to attack the couple.
A long-awaited bill that would make violence against LGBT people and disabled people, as well as misogyny, a hate crime was passed by Italy’s lower house of parliament in November despite months of protests from far-right and Catholic groups.
However, the bill’s passage through the upper house, or senate, has been delayed by a change of government but also resistance from senators belonging to Matteo Salvini’s far-right League, which returned to government after endorsing prime minister Mario Draghi’s broad coalition.
The law, drafted by Alessandro Zan, a senator with the centre-left Democratic party (PD), would be an extension of an existing law that punishes racist violence, hatred and discrimination.
Zan said there was an urgent need to pass a law that exists “in almost all other western countries”.
He added that the bill had the support from senators belonging to the two biggest parties in parliament – the PD and the Five Star Movement – as well as Free and Equal, a small leftwing group, and several senators with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. However, League politicians immediately accused the left of “exploiting the attack for political ends”.
“The PD, M5S and Free and Equal have asked for the law to be put on the agenda, but there has been resistance from the League,” said Zan. “However, even though the government changed, parliament stayed the same, and so we believe we still have the numbers to pass it – we just need the law to be released by the government.”
Two Forza Italia senators – Gabriella Giammanco and Barbara Masini – both said on Monday that they backed the law and called for a vote to be scheduled as soon as possible.
Rights groups receive hundreds of hate crime reports each year but many go unpunished. Although Italy approved same-sex civil unions in 2016, the country has lagged behind its EU partners in creating anti-homophobia measures. Attempts by various governments over the past three decades to enact a similar law have either been stifled or sabotaged, with any progress or even just meaningful debate stymied by a macho culture, Catholicism and support for far-right parties.
The League and the smaller farright party, Brothers of Italy, held protests against the law last summer, arguing it would suppress freedom of expression. The Italian bishops’ conference also said the bill marked “the death of liberty”.
“We strongly hope that the law will be approved as it is badly needed,” said Luisa Rizzitelli, an LGBT and women’s activist. “But it is more at risk now as the force of the League has become important again. So the pressure needs to be increased, otherwise there’ll be the temptation to push the law to the back of the queue.”