January 22, 2015 – "A very important ruling, which underscores the gravity of homophobic offenses and brings them back into line with our Constitution": Flavio Romani, president of Arcigay, expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court's ruling, which called for massive compensation for the 34-year-old Catania man whose driving license was suspended because he was gay. "To those who wanted to portray this serious discrimination as an administrative incident," Romani says, "today the Supreme Court provides an unequivocal response: human dignity is inviolable, and it is the duty of our Republic to protect it. Homophobia, therefore, has no place in our Constitution and deserves exemplary sanctions. With respect to this fixed point, the Italian Parliament is completely absent: this is demonstrated not only by the sterile stalemate in which the anti-homotransphobia bill lies, but also by the shameful debate that led to its approval in the Chamber of Deputies. A debate unforgettable in its vileness, its stubborn denial, and the obvious burden of homotransphobia to which it itself testified. Therefore, it is Parliament that must first and foremost take this ruling to heart, scheduling the debate on the anti-homotransphobia law in the Senate as soon as possible, thus offering us the concrete prospect of the law's entry into force. This is not an administrative quibble, the Court of Cassation tells us, but an indispensable instrument for protecting the dignity of many Italians, men and women,“ concludes Romani.
