On the occasion of the 5th International Day Against Homophobia, May 17, 2009, 12 associations and unions launch the national campaign INTOLERANTS ANONYMOUS, promoted in over 30 cities.
This is the first time that a large associative network against homophobia and transphobia has been established, a new National Liberation Committee To raise public awareness among Italians about a complex and painful social problem affecting the lives of LGBT people. (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) in our country.
“We want to send a message of support to people who suffer from this terrible disease, called homophobia, which forces them to hate, to go against nature, violating the natural solidarity tendency of man" – he declares Luca Trentini, campaign manager.
“We firmly condemn homophobic violence, but we want to be close to homophobes, offering them the opportunity to regain serenity and find healing through the culture of diversity and the practice of solidarity.”
“Homophobic violence is expressed in various forms: LGBT people experience episodes of aggression, murder, bullying” – concludes Trentini – “but sometimes homophobia also takes on less sensational and more domestic contours, it is implemented in more elegant ways and forms, it hides under refined words and learned speeches, it reveals itself in more captivating and familiar contexts, in each case causing incurable wounds.”
Public postings or street flyer distribution will take place in the following cities: Agrigento, Ancona, Bari, Bologna, Brescia, Cosenza, Cremona, Cuneo, Ferrara, Florence, Genoa, Grosseto, Lucca, Mantua, Milan, Modena, Naples, Padua, Parma, Perugia, Pesaro, Pistoia, Pordenone, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Rome, Rovigo, Senigallia, Turin, Trento, Treviso, Trieste, Udine, Verbania and Verona.
The campaign also uses the website www.intollerantianonimi.it, capable of offering a more complete overview of the reality of homophobia and providing cultural tools to combat it.
There are dozens of them cultural initiatives that associations organize in all Italian cities, aimed at promoting contexts of relationships between different identities and raising awareness among the population against prejudice.
Music often becomes one of the universal channels to engage people. Among the most significant, in fact, we point out that in Bologna the concert will take place More Homophony Less Homophobia, promoted by Arcigay Il Cassero and organized by Komos – Coro Omofonico Bolognese, at the DMS Auditorium, via Azzo Gardino 65a, on May 17th at 9 pm.
TO Genoa always on May 17th, within the programming of the National Pride 2009 which will end on June 27th, will take place on reggae concert by Jamaican singer Luciano, a response to the homophobic songs that have often been released in this genre. The event will be held at 9:30 pm at the Baltimore Gardens.
A meeting will be held in Milan gala evening at Karma, organized by CIG Arcigay Milano, during which the following will be awarded: Vladimir Luxuria as LGBT Personality of the Year and Simona Ventura as gay-friendly personality of the year, two people loved by the popular public who have conveyed messages of inclusivity through TV.
The associations promoting the campaign are: Arcigay – Italian Lesbian and Gay Association, ArciLesbica – National Association, Agedo – Association of Parents, Relatives, and Friends of Homosexuals, Rainbow Families – Association of Homosexual Parents, CGIL – Office for New Rights, ARCI, Radical Association for Certain Rights, Mario Mieli Homosexual Culture Circle, Dì Gay Project, GayLib, Rete Lenford – Advocacy for LGBT Rights, High School Students Network.
There International Day Against Homophobia born in 2005 on the initiative of Louis-Georges Tin, editor of the Dictionnaire de l'homophobie (Presses Universitaires de France, 2003) and is celebrated on May 17, to remember that On May 17, 1990, the General Assembly of the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses..
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