[:it]By Ezio De Gesu
Head of Arcigay School
There school It's the most stimulating and demanding dress rehearsal of adulthood. It's the time when you're building your identity, your responsibilities increase, and this process becomes more challenging if you feel like one or more components of your identity are at odds with your growing-up stereotypes.
To support adolescents during this difficult time of growth, since 2002, Arcigay has organized workshops aimed at deconstructing stereotypes and eliminating prejudice and discrimination. In the 2015/2016 school year alone, in the 619 workshops and meetings at school, almost 22,000 students were met, while in the adult workshops approximately 1,000 people were met..
Such initiatives aren't always well received. What happened at the Fava Gioia middle school in Naples is a prime example. In February, cyberbullying courses, funded by the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), part of a project involving more than 50 schools in Italy, were interrupted by the principal at the request of some parents because "the topic of the meeting hadn't been agreed upon with the families." So far, everything was predictable, as similar situations have been reported in the area. What was surprising, however, was:, It was the reaction of the parents and the principal, who strongly supported the resumption of meetings to complete a program against discrimination, which would enrich and support students throughout their school career. The project was therefore concluded in the second week of April, to the great satisfaction of Arcigay Napoli president Antonello Sannino, who, in an interview with Republic, he underlined the courage and support received from the parents of this school.
There are not many similar situations that end positively, but, at least at the Fava Gioia institute, common sense and responsibility prevailed.[:]
