We are concerned and dismayed to learn of the official statement from the Vatican Secretariat of State condemning the bill approved by the Chamber of Deputies against homotransphobia, misogyny, and ableism as a violation of the 1984 Concordat between the State and the Church. "An unprecedented act of diplomatic blackmail," says Pietro Turano, spokesperson for the Gay Center.
Discrimination and violence against LGBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) people is a transversal phenomenon born of hatred and intolerance toward a fundamental human characteristic. It is an attack on human dignity. No law that protects victims can compromise freedom; on the contrary, it defends it.
No article of an international treaty can be challenged by this principle of law, the only one protected by the proposed law against homotransphobia. If the Concordat becomes a tool for the Vatican to challenge a fundamental civilized law for Italy, perhaps the time has come to reconsider the Concordat's legitimacy.
Let us remember, says Turano, that the long and controversial passage of the law has already seen compromises. Article 4 was introduced, which, while promising to guarantee freedom of thought, would in reality, for the first time, legitimize discriminatory positions. Furthermore, Article 7 has also been revised, making information and culture initiatives promoting respect against homotransphobia in schools subject to parental consent and approval of the curriculum, as if they were negotiable values, a supplementary and non-essential offering. Creating opportunities for dialogue, expression, and education does not limit freedom of thought but rather recognizes and gives it space. For this reason, we call on Italian politicians to send a signal, to reaffirm the principles of a secular and pluralist state, inclusive and not obscurantist.
Turano concludes, "Every day, our association listens to and helps young men and women who have been punished, rejected, and blamed for sharing their lives, their bodies, and their relationships with others. Abandoned by their families, estranged from friends and classmates, isolated at school. Stories of rights compromised at work, attacks in public, threats from neighbors, colleagues, and strangers.
For this reason, tomorrow, June 23rd, on the occasion of the next Pride, Gay Center has organized a political debate with Alessandro Zan (PD), Alessandra Maiorino (M5S), Fabrizio Marrazzo (LGBT+ Gay Party), and Pietro Turano (Gay Center) at 6:30 pm in the Scomodo editorial office in Via Carlo Emanuele I. We will ask on this occasion that Italian politics not take any steps backwards. And that it send a signal by eliminating the compromises that have weakened the law, or if the numbers aren't there, by approving this bill as soon as possible without further steps backwards.