Yesterday evening a clarification meeting was held in Bologna between the national president of Arcigay Paolo Patanè, together with Arcigay Bologna and a representation of Arcilesbica, and Massimo D'Alema, who in recent days had made statements against gay marriage and rights.
“"The meeting demonstrates the Democratic Party's good intentions, but the general impression," Patanè explains, "is that the Democratic Party has cut off its dialogue with the movement and the country on the rights of homosexuals, lesbians, and transgender people, withdrawing into party politics and abandoning a twenty-year journey of dialogue. D'Alema appeared ill-informed, or even poorly informed, on the issue of rights and our demands.
From this perspective, the development of gay associations on civil rights and freedoms has made great progress over the years and should be enhanced in a shared effort to modernize the country. The country cannot be modernized by retreating into sterile party dialogue. And this applies to the entire parliamentary sphere.
Arcigay calls for an effort to bring politicians, especially those so-called reformists, closer to a direct dialogue with the movement, its representatives, and civil society.
“The clear feeling,” concludes Patanè, “is that the PD is not benefiting from the choice of an almost total absence of public dialogue with LGBT associations and the failure to valorize some important exponents of the party itself on these issues.”.
Paolo Patanè, national president of Arcigay