Following the gay wedding celebrated on Monday in Rome, 'Porta a Port' will focus on same-sex couples and the proposed law regulating their personal and marital relationships on its October 23 episode, airing at 11:05 PM on Rai Uno.
Bruno Vespa's guests included the newlyweds Alessio De Giorgi and Christian Pierre Panicucci, Franco Grillini (Honorary President of Arcigay), Monsignor Maggiolini, Clemente Mastella, Alessandra Mussolini, and Maretta Scoca.
Here is the press release launched by Arcigay on October 22nd, following the PACS celebrated in Rome:
Arcigay launches a national signature campaign to ask the Italian Parliament to legislate on PACS
President Sergio Lo Giudice: "The time is ripe, even though we face opposition from the gendarmes of homophobic fundamentalism."“
Arcigay Press Office, October 22, 2002
The beautiful demonstration in Rome and the affection shown by the Roman population demonstrate that in Italy too the time is ripe to bridge the gap with the rest of Europe and pass a law on Civil Solidarity Pacts in Italy too.
Starting today, Arcigay is launching a major nationwide campaign to collect signatures in support of the PACS law.
“"Already in 1995, in just a few months, Arcigay collected 150,000 signatures in support of a law on Civil Unions. Today, that number is joined by the broader segment of public opinion that now supports the battle for the recognition of gay and lesbian love," is the appeal launched by Arcigay national president Sergio Lo Giudice. "We invite associations, movements, and parties that share this commitment to civility to join this initiative and work with us to end this absurd discrimination.".
We know—Lo Giudice continues—that we face fierce opposition from the gendarmes of homophobic fundamentalism. AN continues to deceive its own electorate, presenting gay love as an intolerant attack on the traditional family (Maria Ida Germontani) and calling it "a caricature" (Storace), or going so far as to compare gays to dogs, as Riccardo Pedrizzi did today.
Minister Buttiglione's statements also sound jarring and anti-historical. He excludes gay unions from the definition of family, in open conflict with the Nice Charter (and ratified by the Italian Parliament) in Article 9, which distinguishes between the right to marry and the right to found a family. This is the clearest response to those who consider Article 29 of the Italian Constitution an insurmountable obstacle to legislating for gay couples, almost as if recognizing the rights of the traditional family would necessarily result in the denial of other, newer rights.
Other significant sectors of the parliamentary majority—concludes the president of Arcigay—prefer, like Don Abbondio, to adopt the system that consists of "avoiding all conflicts," yielding to Vatican pressure where conflict cannot be avoided. Raised on the reading of Manzoni's masterpiece, we know that, sooner or later, the new bravos in cassocks or green shirts will be defeated and that our love will triumph over the cowardice of politics and the arrogance of power.