Arcigay’s headquarters in Pavia has been vandalized several times this year. Last June, the same thing happened to the rainbow bench in San Donato. In October in Naples, two volunteers who had been tested for HIV were harassed and threatened. Also in June, Chloe Bianco committed suicide after being suspended from her teaching job due to her transition. Chiara did the same when she was only 19 years old. In March, another homophobic attack took place in Rimini: a twenty-four-year-old boy was beaten because of his sexual orientation. We could go on and on the list, for example this list of facts, tragedies, injustices would be enough to paint a picture of Italy on International Day Against Homotransphobia 2023. According to omofobia.org’s annual report, between April 2022 and March 2023, there were 115 episodes of homotransphobia in Italy, affecting 165 victims in 62 locations.
The situation in Italy is not very good, so much so that our country is only in thirty-fourth place in the Rainbow Europe 2023 report on LGBT+ rights. However, as far as protection from hatred is concerned, we are even at 0% given that there is no law in our legal system that protects against homotransphobia and therefore against hate crimes and discrimination based on sexual identity. This year in Italy, among the victims who declared themselves, 50 suffered from single attacks, 32 were victims of group or pair attacks (19% of the total). There were also 2 murders, 4 suicides, 1 suicide attempt and 76 non-aggressive acts of serious criminal significance. The data, among other things, does not take into account all those non-appearance cases, which are likely to be the majority.
According to the omofobia.org report, in 2017-2018, when the law on civil unions came into force, the ratio between aggressive and non-aggressive actions has reversed, but since 2021, the same ratio has again changed in favor of physically violent actions. Peaks of violence can be noted, coupled with phases of political debate about LGBT+ rights, and this, the report notes, “supports the idea that the use of homophobic violence is for some a form of political expression”. Added to these forms is domestic violence, especially to the detriment of boys who are forced to leave their homes because their families do not accept their identity. According to Gay Helpline data from 21,000 contacts received over the past year, 41.6% of people who seek help suffer from homotransphobic domestic violence after coming out, and 31.6% of victims % of young people in aged 11 to 26 and 15% of LGBT+ minors. Legislative action is urgently needed to reverse this trend, but the Meloni government certainly does not make protecting the LGBT+ community a priority at this time. Indeed, there is a constant risk of further backward steps and a political climate that justifies and encourages violence and hatred.
Source: Elle