Yet another book has arrived, spreading misinformation and attacking the LGBTQIA+ community in our region. This time, it's being presented in Empoli. It's by the Northern League MP Rossano Sasso, who relaunches the unfounded concept of "gender ideology.".
It is unacceptable that once again a public space is used to promote content that denies the existence and rights of LGBTQIA+ people, fueling prejudice and discrimination.
It's absurd that people can access institutional spaces, which should represent all citizens, simply by paying, thus transforming a political and social issue into a mere commercial transaction. It's important to reflect on this mechanism and defuse it, because it undermines trust in public service and puts the safety of our community at risk.
These events, which hide behind the facade of freedom of expression, are actually hate speeches that fuel social unrest, misinformation, and discrimination against a segment of the citizenry. If there were a law against homo-lesbian-bi-trans-interphobia, these speeches would be rightly condemned and would have no place in public settings.
Arcigay Florence is present throughout the metropolitan area, and this also means being close to the LGBTQIA+ people who live in Empoli, who are part of our community and deserve respect, listening, and protection.
We ask the Empoli administration and institutions to distance themselves from these harmful messages, to defuse the commercial mechanisms that regulate the rental of spaces for all citizens, and to publicly express their support for a community made up of citizens who ask only to live in safety and dignity, like all other people.
Because no public space should be complicit in hate disguised as opinion.
