‘They are far behind our society’: Italy’s LGBTQ+ community in danger after killing protection law

The cheers of the Italian senate’s far-right members were deafening as they raucously celebrated shooting down another chance to protect the Italian LGBTQ+ community.

And when the jeering finally ended, activists said hopes for a fairer Italy had been dashed in Italy when the anti-homophobic bill was deliberately killed.

“The senators who killed the law have shown that they are far behind our society,” the leader of the Democratic Party and former prime minister Enrico Letta told The Independent. “Especially [behind] the young people, whom they should also represent.”

The Zan bill – named after centre-left politician and LGBTQ+ activist Alessandro Zan – was set to make violence against members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and disabled people a criminal offence, with up to four years in prison or a €6,000 (£5,100) fine.

“The more moderate Forza Italia, unfortunately, sided with [Matteo] Salvini and [Giorgia] Meloni’s anti-European right. And with them, in the secrecy of the ballot, were the many accomplices of a grave decision that has caused deep wounds,” added Letta.

For over two decades, Italian governments have tried and failed to pass similar laws.

But Italy’s underlying conservatism and unresolved sexism, coupled with a powerful Catholic Church and remnants of the far-right, have contributed to the country’s slow progress in LGBTQ+ matters.

As a result, a bill that could have garnered Italy much praise from some of its European neighbours was quashed in a secret ballot with 154 versus 131 votes.

But in a country that ranks among the worst for LGBTQ+ rights in the European Union (EU) and that saw a recent string of homophobic attacks, the verdict sparked widespread anger, yet little surprise.

The usual suspects, including far-right parties like Fratelli d’Italia and Lega Nord, have continuously opposed all pro-LGBTQ+ laws in a bid to push the country towards the same discriminatory policies that exist in Poland and Hungary. The issue, however, is not as black and white as left and right.

Activists, experts and politicians have also pointed the finger at centre-left party Italia Viva and its leader, former prime minister Matteo Renzi.

Italia Viva rallied behind the bill last year and played an important role in helping to push it through parliament’s lower house. But in a sudden shift, Renzi’s party back peddled on its support, sparking accusations of backroom deals with other political parties.

“We have come to this because Italia Viva retracted its support,” said Nicolamaria Coppola, a PhD candidate in applied social sciences focusing on LGBT rights. “If Italia Viva had voted as it had done in the Chamber of Deputies, the Zan bill would be law. One thing must be made clear: the bill was killed by one party, Italia Viva.”

Pope Francis has tried to breach the divide between the Catholic Church and its LGBTQ+ followers. Last month he held a meeting with parents of LGBTQ+ children, stating: “The church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.”

The Pope’s attempts to integrate the increasingly alienated community over the years have failed to convince the Vatican’s conservatives to fight for the safety of its LGBTQ+ members.

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In an unprecedented move, Paul Gallagher, a British bishop and Vatican secretary for relations with states, asked the Italian government to kill the Zan bill, la Repubblica newspaper reported in June.

According to Gallagher, the law would have impinged on the church’s “freedom of thought” because of its attempts to impose a national day against homophobia on Italian schools in a bid to educate children. Supporters of the bill were quick to remind the bishop that freedom of belief for everyone was written into the law.

The church, said Pozzi*, an activist with Italy’s first and largest national gay organisation Arcigay, “is a real political, economic and social power”.

Arcigay say they record more than 100 hate crimes and discrimination cases each year. Italy’s divisive rhetoric and countless right-wing organisations are thought to play a direct role in this.

CitizenGo, a popular ultra-conservative Catholic advocacy group that has campaigned to ban the ‘pregnant man’ emoji and boycott Sesame Street, reacted to the news on Wednesday by posting on social media the image of a tombstone and the epitaph: Here rests the Zan bill.

In an email seen by The Independent, CitizenGo congratulated its followers on their victory. The Zan bill, read the email, “was a Trojan Horse set to impose LGBTQ thoughts on all of us, promoting a real rainbow colonisation on our country’s social life: schools, workplaces, public offices, media and communication”.

Groups like CitizenGo have so far failed to quash the LGBTQ+ community’s outcry, with thousands across Italy taking to the streets to voice their anger. Protests were held in Brescia, Palermo, Milan and Rome’s “Gay Street”.

“In the following days, we’ll be voicing our indignation at what happened and to show we’ve no intention of backing down,” said Pozzi. “We will soon relaunch our political requests – a law against discrimination, equal marriage, adoptions and more.”

*name changed to hide identity