In one week, the Gay Help Line, 800713713, received three reports of assault in Rome alone, in addition to last Saturday's assault in the Giulio Cesare area.
In order of reporting, the attacks targeted:
– A young couple was attacked late this evening on Via del Corso by a group of youths on scooters: homophobic insults, provocation, and beatings caused both to suffer injuries with a prognosis of five days;
A boy was attacked in the entrance hall of his house by a roommate: the trigger for the denigration, insults, and violence was the boy's identification as gay.
A young couple was attacked by two men inside a restaurant in northern Rome. The attackers claimed they deserved punishment because they hugged and then kissed.
As reported in the news last Saturday, a 25-year-old gay man was also beaten up in the street in the Giulio Cesare area by 10 youths.
Being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or non-binary cannot and must not put you at risk of violence: the streets, clubs, and places of civil coexistence cannot be the site of homophobic and transphobic violence with impunity.
For this reason, in addition to forcefully calling for national recognition of civil and legal protection against crimes proven to be homophobic, we ask the Rome City Council to incorporate our additions to the resolution against homophobia and transphobia, so that the commitment that the Gay Help Line 800 713 713 has been providing to the city of Rome for approximately 20 years is also recognized.
We remind anyone who is a victim or witness of homophobic violence to call Gay Help Line, 800713713 or chat with Speakly.org.