Arcigay President Flavio Romani today sent a letter to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities requesting that the communication regarding annual events organized for Valentine's Day include a specific requirement regarding whether they will be open to all families.
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To the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities
To whom it may concern/be of interest
in cc to the management of UNAR
SUBJECT: Museum admission reassurances on Valentine's Day for gay and lesbian couples
It's now a tradition for the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, on Valentine's Day, February 13th and 14th, to invite all couples to state museums and art venues with a single ticket.
It's a meaningful initiative that unites the beauty of love with that of art, and numerous gay and lesbian families participate in the initiative by inviting their loved one to a museum.
While, year after year, we see an ever-improving welcome for same-sex couples at participating museums, homosexual couples are occasionally prevented from entering museums due to objections, difficulties, and the explicit expression of prejudice at ticket offices.
We are writing to you, therefore, to seek reassurance on this matter and to ask you to kindly express explicitly this year and in future years, given the difficulties reported in recent years, that the welcome is open to all couples in love, heterosexual and homosexual: to all future families. It would also be desirable if you could send a circular to the institutions participating in the initiative, urging them to welcome it positively and incorporate the same inclusive message into their local campaigns.
Certainly, your explicit statement along these lines would convince many more gay and lesbian couples to participate in these initiatives and would facilitate progress toward the goal of non-discrimination and full equality to which Europe and the democracy we identify with call us.
We look forward to hearing from you and send you our warmest regards.
Flavio Romani
President of Arcigay
(photo Agnes° Irene° (from Padua/Verona°, Italy°, Wikicommons)