Belluno. Gays tell mayors: "Don't delay the decision."«

BELLUNO. It's time to check your voter card. Most of those issued in 2001 are now full: there are 18 spaces for stamps. When the spaces are full, citizens must renew their card. To do so, contact the relevant municipal offices. To obtain a renewal, simply show your old card and a valid ID. For information, contact the demographics office, Via Mezzaterra 45, in the building outside the seminary.
by Alessia Forzin wBELLUNO The mayors have taken their time, but they're asking for an acceleration. Homosexuals living in the Belluno area reiterate the need to initiate a discussion on the issue of civil unions, and in the meantime, they're working to create opportunities for encounters that are lacking. Among the protagonists of this movement are Eva Vedana, the young woman who started making waves with her appeal for the establishment of a registry for de facto couples, and Michele Campedel, a young man who lives in Valbelluna. "In the past, some friends and I had tried to set up groups similar to Arcigay in the province," he says. "Places to talk and discuss certain issues." The idea was mooted, but the project foundered, taking a different direction from what it was born for. "Now, thanks also to Eva and two girls from Bologna, we're thinking of dusting it off," Campedel continues. "It's necessary to create a basis for discussion on which to work, to begin asserting our rights." And here the issue of de facto couples comes into play. Campedel also believes it's time to address it: "Establishing a registry of civil unions would benefit not only homosexuals, but also heterosexual couples who don't want to marry. And it's not an attack on the traditional family: just living together creates a family, but if you're not married, you lack all your rights." For example, the right to decide on medical treatment if your partner is unable to do so. But there are also more trivial examples: if two gay people live together and an accident happens to the "landlord," the other has no right to remain in the apartment. "For the state, we appear to be two individuals with no ties. This is why we're calling for the legalization of civil unions, first at the municipal level, then at the national level," Campedel continues. "There must be protection for those who choose or cannot marry." Eva Vedana also strongly urges this, in light of the statements of the mayors of Belluno and Feltre (who had explained that the issue will be addressed, but calmly), stating: "If not now, when? Isn't it a priority for a municipality like Belluno to at least allow us to have civil unions in our municipalities? We are citizens who work, pay taxes, bills, make sacrifices, and we only ask to be respected as such." Eva wasn't pleased with the mayor of Feltre's statements either: "He said: 'We'll address it when we can discuss it calmly.' But when? When will an issue like this ever be discussed calmly, if it's constantly postponed, waiting for a 'better time' that never seems to arrive? We're talking about civil rights, not secondary needs." Hence the invitation to both mayors to "take the small town of Vodo di Cadore (the only municipality in the province to have established a registry for common-law couples, ed.) as an example, where, apparently, civil rights are a priority." Alessia