Dear Sir,
President of the Puglia Region
Hon. Raffaele Fitto
Dear Sir,
President of the Province
Marcello Vernola
Dear Sir,
Mayor of Bari
Simeone Di Cagno Abbrescia
Dear Sirs,
Newspaper Headings
Bari, 27.06.02
‘Homophobia, that complex set of reactions of anxiety, aversion, anger, and fear that some people feel towards homosexual people, is a social plague.
In fact, it represents a system of beliefs and stereotypes that justifies discrimination based on sexual orientation and the use of aggressive language and behavior towards gays, lesbians, and transgender people, devaluing their lifestyle compared to that of heterosexuals.
It's true that the discrimination in question should already be considered unlawful in Italy under constitutional provisions, specifically Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Constitution itself, which expressly prohibits discrimination based on "personal conditions." There are no laws in Italy that directly discriminate against LGBT people, but it's also true that the existing legislative vacuum regarding discrimination against homosexuals is itself discriminatory. Just consider the legislative vacuum regarding alternative families and the choice of civil unions.
This last regulatory gap, routinely ignored due to legislative inertia, too often influenced by Vatican pressure, discriminates against Italian citizens who have no intention of regulating their emotional relationships in the manner established by existing institutions. It should be emphasized that the specific forms of family organization have undergone profound transformations both within the same culture over the centuries and across different cultures, with modalities ranging from the communal organization of primitive communities to the matrilineal structures present in many populations of diverse areas at various times, to the different ways in which the patriarchal family structure is structured.
In our country, too, a significant transformation has occurred since the 1960s in the ways we consider interpersonal relationships, sexual mores, and forms of existential coexistence between individuals. As a result, today, in Italy, the concept of family is characterized by very different modalities than it was a few decades ago.
Civil law has reflected these changes (in behavior, interpersonal habits, and ways of thinking about family and marital relationships) at a time and in a manner that is highly inadequate and slow compared to ongoing social developments. It is therefore necessary to contribute to the recognition and valorization, including institutional recognition, of these changes in individuals' ways of feeling and acting, within the context of family organization and cohabitation.
Over the last twenty years, informal cohabitation between people of the same or different sexes has become increasingly widespread in Italy, and these forms of de facto, non-institutionalized cohabitation remain severely penalized under the Italian civil system. Civil unions between two people of the same or different sexes broaden and enrich the concept of "family as a natural society" enshrined in Article 29 of the Constitution, allowing citizens greater freedom to choose how to organize their lives and family relationships. It should be noted that, in the absence of specific legislation, some municipalities (Empoli first and foremost) have passed regulations on this matter, such as the establishment of the Civil Union Registry, which recognizes the dignity of these new forms of family. Its adoption, for the reasons listed above, should be a mandatory act on the part of all municipal administrations.
In recent years, important signs have emerged from many European countries adopting measures to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation and to regulate relationships between homosexuals, through institutions ranging from marriage to civil unions. The European Union itself has made considerable progress in strengthening its commitment to equal treatment for all people, regardless of sexual orientation. In 1999, the Treaty of Amsterdam amended the EC's founding treaty, granting the Council specific powers to "take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability or handicap, age, or sexual orientation" (Article 13). This new legal competence was quickly deployed to adopt the Framework Directive on Equal Treatment in Employment and Employment in November 2000 (Directive 78/2000). This directive requires Member States to prohibit discrimination in the workplace based on religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation. The principle of equal treatment regardless of sexual orientation was also endorsed (incorporated) in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, agreed (drafted, ratified) in December 2000. Article 21 (1) states that "any discrimination based on grounds such as ... sexual orientation shall be prohibited". The central theme of the "Bari National Pride 2003" will be to raise awareness in the Italian Parliament so that the European Directive is transposed and adopted within the expected deadlines and that it can be a reason to include in the White Paper on Labour among the causes of discrimination also those due to sexual orientation. This will also mean opening a debate within the trade unions.
On June 28, 1969, in New York, homosexuals rebelled for the first time against police harassment and abuse against them and the clubs and venues they frequented, which had until then been a constant in their lives. From that date, taken as a symbolic starting point, movements began to organize throughout the democratic West (in Italy starting in 1971) to demand the human and civil rights of those persecuted or discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. And it is in commemoration of this anniversary that "Gay Pride" demonstrations are held every year around the world (or at least in those parts of the world where freedom of expression exists): a term that the Italian "orgoglio" perhaps renders ambiguously and approximate, but which is immediately understandable within the context of a traditionally multiethnic society like America, where these demonstrations originated.
It's about the pride of no longer having to hide an identity.
which a violent and authoritarian tradition wanted relegated and locked away in the private sphere because it was considered shameful, almost as if an identity ascribed to the personality of the individual, who is never put in the position of "choosing" his own sexual orientation (just as he cannot choose the color of his eyes and hair) could be evaluated from a moral point of view.
What is profoundly immoral, however, for the liberal sensibility of the contemporary West, is precisely the idea that there exist human groups that can be considered inferior, unworthy of equal rights and equal social dignity, because they are characterized by an identity different from that of the majority.
Michael Bellomo
Bari was chosen by all Italian homosexual associations as the location to host the 2003 National Pride Parade. It is an important event for our city and for the entire South, especially given the backwardness or lack of fundamental information on civil rights.
Characterized by its historical role as a link between the West and the East, the city of Bari would represent an important point of reference not only for all LGBT people and others living in southern Italy but also for those countries that have been timidly approaching not only the Italian and therefore European economies but also progressive and secular human rights policies, such as the Balkan countries and the entire Mediterranean basin.
It is crucial that all institutions, regardless of their political affiliation, demonstrate their sensitivity to our initiative—something we believe is obvious. This applies not only to ideological support or formal and nominative sponsorship, but also to financial support, so that political support translates into lively and proactive action, in addition to words.
Southern gay associations, particularly the Arcigay clubs of Naples, Syracuse, and Cosenza, gave their full support to the organization of Bari Gay Pride 2003, thus establishing a southern coordination body for propaganda and work.
The President
Arcigay "Giovanni Forti" Bari
Michael Bellomo