«There wasn't a homophobic atmosphere at school. Nor was Matteo gay. Not that being gay is offensive. It's perplexing that a boy who wasn't gay would become a gay icon.
These are the words of the public prosecutor the day after the case of little Matteo's suicide in Turin was dismissed. These words, combined with Minister Fioroni's closed-minded attitude, confirm thatat school she is always happier to shake off guilt and shortcomings To blame, from time to time, the internet, cell phones, television, or, as in this case, LGBT organizations. Add to this the recent anti-bullying campaigns whose sole purpose is to criminalize and punish the bully, and the bleak picture that Italian schools present becomes clear.
In this situation it is not easy to organize truly effective interventions on a large scale and if we want to continue to be incisive and offer schools valid educational tools, we must know how to renew ourselves and insist on working in the territory, province by province, school by school.
It's no longer time, if it ever was, to go to schools and engage in debates with the priest or psychologist on duty. Not for ourselves, much less for those who criticize us, but for the many boys and girls who would attend, lest they return home more confused and uninformed than before. Instead, we must offer schools and children professionals well-trained and qualified people who know how to act as new civil rights educators and who know how to network, so that successful initiatives in some areas become successful initiatives throughout the country.
Training and networkingThese are the watchwords for the school sector's activities, and this is the direction in which Arcigay is investing. This investment has seen its first fruits with the development of the national network of school groups, which allows us to share projects, best practices, and provide operational support to individual committees, and with the training workshops for school workers, – the last one was held on November 18th in Bologna – which give us the opportunity to develop within each committee skills and people capable of proposing projects and paths directly in the individual institutes.
There's no doubt that the road is uphill, but the enthusiasm of our young people already working in schools, and the growing enthusiasm of those who come into contact with them, tells us to continue without hesitation and contribute to improving this country through better education for its young people.
Stefano Bucaioni – Head of the Arcigay School Sector
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