ARCIGAY: "THIS IS THE INSTITUTIONAL HOMOPHOBIA EUROPE REPROACHES US FOR"“
Bologna, April 20, 2016 – "Just a month ago, we commented on the alarm raised by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) regarding the phenomenon of homotransphobia in public institutions and the conduct of public officials. The wiretaps of Undersecretary Del Basso De Caro demonstrate, if any were needed, that the European Agency has hit the nail on the head." Gabriele Piazzoni, national secretary of Arcigay, weighs in on the homophobic and sexist wiretaps published by Il Fatto Quotidiano and attributed to the Honorable Umberto Del Basso De Caro, Undersecretary for Transport in the Renzi government and elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the Democratic Party. "If it were possible to overlook the disgust his words provoke," Piazzoni continues, "we should almost thank the Undersecretary for providing a concise and clear portrait of the worst homophobic and sexist subculture contaminating our country. The Undersecretary, once his conversations were made public, was keen to make it clear that he had committed no criminal offence. He is absolutely right: what he did, and presumably does daily, is reiterate a rotten and discriminatory culture, one that fuels inequality and imposes obstacles, marginalization, and denial of rights on social groups (women, homosexuals, transgender people), making them targets of blind and ruthless violence. If there is an Italy that needs to be scrapped, it is precisely this one: what this country must rid itself of is not the elderly by birth, but rather those with medieval minds and thoughts. There is no place for them in the ruling class of a country living in the third millennium," Piazzoni concludes.