According to news reports, attending Rome's Liceo Cavour is a living hell for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. This morning, yet another transphobic incident occurred at the high school in central Rome: a religion teacher allegedly snatched from a student's hands and tore into pieces a sign that read "Alias Career in Every School," which was made for Transgender Visibility Day, celebrated today. Liceo Cavour is the school attended by Andrea "of the Pink Pants," who took his own life in 2012 due to bullying in class. It is also the school attended by another Andrea, a transgender boy who was denied an alias career last year, and also by another transgender boy who a few months ago was humiliated and assaulted by one of his teachers in front of his classmates, shouting, "I'm facing a woman.".
This morning, Transgender Visibility Day, several students at Cavour High School showed up to school with cards in the colors of the transgender flag and the slogan "Alias Career in Every School," to emphasize the importance of inclusive practices in schools. A religion teacher then allegedly grabbed the sign from a student and destroyed it, according to the Rete degli Studenti Medi (High School Students Network). Upon learning of the incident, the school principal reprimanded the students for not having their signs authorized.
“"How much violence and how many bodies does it take to intervene? Every day in Rome's schools, discriminatory and repressive measures are adopted against LGBT+ students, rather than defending their freedom of expression. This is the result of a country lacking protections against homotransphobia, which has placed it at the bottom of all European rankings. My school years were terrible, but imagining being a student at Liceo Cavour is a nightmare for me. We demand a different kind of school," says Pietro Turano, vice president of Arcigay Roma and head of schools for the association.
“"In a country like Italy, where correcting one's personal information is lengthy and complex, an alias career in school would be the bare minimum to guarantee transgender students the slightest peace of mind, simply by respecting their chosen name while awaiting the actual change in their personal information. Education Minister Valditara has declared that there is no room for discrimination in schools, but has done nothing to prevent the endless discrimination that occurs every day in Italian schools. This silence is deadly," Turano concludes.
