Kisses, no. Sharing affection on Corso Vittorio Emanuele or Corso Cavour, perhaps in front of the ruins of the Petruzzelli Theater, is best avoided. It's counterproductive, as well as inappropriate. Bari is willing to tolerate it, but only up to a point. And when faced with displays of affection (let's call them euphemistically) between people of the same sex, proud of their diversity, tolerance quickly turns into annoyance, and something more. A feeling of repulsion that, for Ettore Bucciero, a lawyer and senator from Bari for the National Alliance, becomes visceral rather than superficial, an uncontrollable and irrepressible impulse, certainly exaggerated, of rejection.
So, the organizers of Gay Pride 2003 should be on their guard: in a city where no one is a stranger, there will be no room for transgression, whether it be called gay pride or anything else. Indeed, what for now is merely a proclamation, for many Bari residents is already a case in point.
In the National Alliance stronghold, some are already sharpening their polemical weapons. And Senator Bucciero is also sounding the charge for those who, albeit with different nuances, are viewing with suspicion and concern the national rally that Arcigay plans to organize in Bari next year.
«"I feel like throwing up because homosexuality can't be a source of pride," says a representative of the National Alliance, who laments the lack of a conference center to organize "professional demonstrations, I'm thinking of doctors, which would bring prestige and money to Bari." Homosexuals, on the other hand, definitely don't. "Let's be clear," Bucciero says, "everyone has the right to demonstrate, it just bothers me when someone flaunts their homosexuality in public.".
If it really can't be avoided in Bari, then the National Alliance senator hopes that "it should at least be held in the suburbs or somewhere out of the sight of innocent children, because the ones I saw parading in Rome didn't have the manners of schoolgirls; on the contrary, they behaved repugnantly." Hence, he appealed to the mayor to "assign them suburban streets.".
Simone Di Cagno Abbrescia, for now, prefers to wait. "I haven't received any requests," he reveals, "but we'll evaluate it collectively: we're a liberal and free-market administration, but we won't let anyone 'use' us.".
‘This is a sensitive topic, and not everyone is ready to raise barricades like Ettore Bucciero. Mario De Cristofaro, president of the Regional Council and a die-hard, pure, and unrepentant right-winger, declares that "homosexuals are free to do what they want." He has nothing against them or their parties, in short, "although I don't understand the need to flaunt their diversity." A separate issue, however, concerns the sponsorship and contribution that Arcigay has requested from the Region. "They haven't asked me; President Fitto will decide," says De Cristofaro. "I'm just saying that we can't sponsor everyone or give them financial contributions, because if that were the case, we'd also have to give them to all the normal people who organize events.".
The Church is silent, at least for now. While Monsignor Cosmo Francesco Ruppi, Archbishop of Lecce and President of the Episcopal Conference of Puglia, admits he has no basis for judgment, Father Giovanni Matera, Prior of the Basilica of Saint Nicholas, recognizes gay people's full freedom to demonstrate, albeit under certain conditions. "I don't want to discriminate or pass judgment," says the "custodian" of the relics of the Saint of Myra. "Bari isn't Rome, and there's no Jubilee here, for goodness sake. They're people too, but..." But? "Well," reasons Father Matera, "I respect their opinions, but only on the condition that there's reciprocity. They too must respect others. In short, what I'm trying to say is that the way you demonstrate is important. It's form and form." Exactly: the kiss on Via Sparano is definitely not.
