by SIMONE BIANCHIN
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Charged with domestic violence and assault, aggravated by frivolous and despicable motives. The attacker of Valentina M., a 29-year-old woman who runs a website that provides university news, and who reported being attacked Wednesday evening because she is a lesbian, could face immediate trial and immediate sentencing. This is the intention of Public Prosecutor Elio Remondini, who will receive the case file today. The man is Andrea C., 35, a shopkeeper. When he opened his shop on the northern outskirts of Milan yesterday morning, he was met by a police car and immediately admitted: "Yes, it was me. And I intended to show up with a lawyer to clarify my reaction: because it had nothing to do with homophobia." Andrea, a large, tattooed, and almost completely bald man, admits he overreacted: "But those girls kept looking at us, and then I was annoyed that they were taking photographs." The man claimed that on Wednesday evening, when the attack occurred, he was at a restaurant on Via Raffaello Sanzio with his partner and two other women (also tattooed), and thought the lesbians at the next table were taking pictures of him to make fun of him. They claim the opposite: that he was the one watching them and making homophobic jokes. But Andrea, who recently had a street fight "over traffic issues," denies the accusation: "I've never been homophobic; I have friends of all genders. I felt like I was being watched, and I asked the girl with the camera what she was photographing." The response was reportedly "calm down, what do you want?" He lost his composure and advanced in a threatening manner. Valentina M. tried to block him, and he blurted out, "Oh, you like acting like a man, so I'll beat you up." He received punches and a broken, bleeding nose.
While the trial is awaiting, reactions are multiplying: Marco Mori, president of Arcigay Milano, is calling on the City Council to establish a helpdesk to combat homophobic discrimination and attacks. Francesca Zajczyk, the mayor's delegate for equal opportunity policy initiatives, responds that "we're working on it; we want cultural attitudes toward diversity to change profoundly.".
