from "Il Mattino di Padova", 8-3-2002
Giuseppina Destro, Mayor of Padua
After the raids, threatening letters, and insulting graffiti against gays and lesbians, Padua Pride 2002 arrives at Montecitorio. The government promises to ensure the safety of participants in the June 8th gay parade by adequately strengthening its security apparatus. That's not all: according to the executive, represented by the Northern League's Undersecretary of the Interior, Toys, a negotiation is still underway between the mayor of Padua and the leaders of the movement; because Giustina Destro is aiming for a postponement of the Pride, deemed too "contiguous" to the celebrations of the Saint.
Franco Grillini
The matter emerged in the Chamber during the reply to the urgent question addressed to Minister Scajola by around forty PD deputies, the first signatories Piero Ruzzante and Franco Grillini. ""We have expressed to the Government our alarm over the climate of intolerance that accompanies the Padua Pride, a civil expression of freedom. What worries us is the contradictory attitude of the House of Freedoms: in the center-right, there are those who are "open" to civil rights, like the minister Prestigiacomo; And those, like the National Alliance, are collecting signatures to "regulate" homosexual demonstrations. Therefore, we ask the government to protect a constitutional right. The executive's response? It only partially satisfied us: we acknowledge the commitment, but Berlusconi He had promised Italians safer cities, and reality proves otherwise. As for the date of the event, and the exploitative controversy over the Saint, if the mayor is indeed conducting negotiations, let them at least be conducted in broad daylight.
The Radicals are also taking part in the event, currently busy gathering support for 25 bills affecting public institutions and funding, telecommunications and justice, the economy, and individual freedoms.
""We are participating in the Gay Pride, as we have always done in the past, because it is a moment of freedom and the protection of homosexual rights is part of our history" he begins. Marco Cappato ""This is precisely why we urge the organizers not to respond to provocations. It's a great opportunity for civic growth, and it shouldn't be debased into a public order problem. Therefore, we invite the homosexual movement to endorse our proposals, inspired by the secular nature of the state and anticlericalism. Is Destro denying its patronage to Pride? Rutelli, mayor of Rome, had done the same.".
""Padua is a complex city, where the reaction is not hidden on the right, but rather on the left" claims the radical coordinator Vasco Carraro ""and the stereotype of the bigoted Northeast must be dispelled: here, in the European elections, Emma Bonino It received 16.91% of the votes. And on the subject of rights, "there is more sensitivity among moderates than among the so-called progressives: this is confirmed by the support for our proposals, which far exceeds expectations." In the morning, a Radical delegation went to the Due Palazzi: among the inmates, the theme of "fair justice" received record approval.
