The April 9 and 10, 2006 The Italian Parliament is being voted on. This time, too, there are several exponents of the LGBT movement who run for office on various lists.
The novelty is certainly represented by the fact that the new electoral law determines almost all likely candidates at the outset. In fact, depending on the result obtained by each party, those elected will be determined by their position on the list.
The first candidate to talk about is definitely Franco Grillini, honorary president of Arcigay, is running for the Chamber of Deputies in two constituencies: Lombardy 1 and Emilia Romagna, on the Ulivo list. The DS MP, the first signatory of the proposed law on civil unions, is considered guaranteed election status on the Lombardy 1 list (Milan and its province).
Also Tweety De Simone, former president and founder of Arcilesbica, and outgoing MP for Rifondazione Comunista, is running for the Emilia-Romagna constituency; for the representative of the national lesbian movement, her election is practically a foregone conclusion.
New adventure for Vladimiro Guadagno, aka Vladimir Luxuria, leading candidate on the Communist Refoundation Party's list for the Chamber of Deputies in the Lazio 1 constituency (Rome and Province). The icon of Roman nights, an artist known for her television and radio programs, will certainly have a chance at the Chamber of Deputies.
Gianpaolo Silvestri, Silvestri, a historic leader of the movement, founder of Arcigay, and national head of Civil Rights for the Green Federation, is running for the Senate on the Lombardy Green and PdCI List. After many years of activism dedicated to the entire Italian gay community, Silvestri will almost certainly be our representative in the Senate, a branch of Parliament that has until now been devoid of representatives from the movement.
Alessandro Zan, a member of the Arcigay National Secretariat and head of the PACS campaign, is a candidate on the Ulivo list in Veneto 1 (Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Verona, and Rovigo); for Zan, this is a service candidacy to underscore the DS's commitment to PACS.
Historical leader of the movement, who is taking part in this electoral campaign to help the centre left to have a good result is Vanni Piccolo, former president of the Mario Mieli Circle, now president of the LGBT Council of the DS Gayleft and a member of the DS regional secretariat for Lazio. Piccolo is running as a Senate candidate in the Lazio constituency for the Democrats of the Left.
Surely known by the whole movement is Marcella Di Folco, national president of the Ministry of Transport, who is running for the Senate in the Emilia Romagna constituency on the Greens and PdCI list.
Also Agata Ruscica, regional spokesperson for Gayleft, known for her commitment to the recognition of couples' rights, is running for the Senate, specifically in Sicily, on the Democrats of the Left list.
Fabio Croce, Fabio, a member of Arcigay in Rome and a publisher, is running for the Chamber of Deputies in Lazio, specifically in constituency 1 (Rome and Province) on the Green Party list. Fabio will likely also be a candidate in the upcoming Rome municipal elections.
Enzo Cucco, another well-known exponent of the movement and director of the Sandro Penna Foundation in Turin, is a candidate on the Rosa nel Pugno list for the Chamber of Deputies in the Piedmont 1 constituency.
The list of candidates directly related to the LGBT movement ends with Luca Trentini, president of Arcigay Orlando of Brescia for a few months, who is trying his hand at a political race for the first time by running as a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies in the Lombardy 2 constituency (Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Sondrio, Varese, Lecco) for the Rosa nel Pugno.
A final mention deserves the candidacy of Maria Gigliola Toniollo, head of the National Office for New Rights of the CGIL, who is running for the Rose in the Fist party for the Senate in the Lazio constituency.
Arcigay wishes all these candidates good luck in their work, in the hope that the next Parliament will see the presence of a LGBT inter-parliamentary group, which places our demands very forcefully in the highest republican institution!
