PRESS RELEASE
INAUGURATION
LGBTQIA+ ANTI-DISCRIMINATION CENTER SALERNO
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2025
11.00 AM
The inauguration of the first LGBTQIA+ Anti-Discrimination Center in the province of Salerno will take place on Saturday, February 21st, starting at 11:00 a.m. at Via Romualdo II Guarna 2 in Salerno. The Center, strongly supported by Arcigay Salerno and the S5 Social Area through a process of co-designing and co-constructing inclusive best practices, will offer support and guidance to victims of discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity, to their loved ones, and to the entire LGBTQIA+ community in the area.
“"We are very pleased with this result, which fills a gap in services and opportunities for people discriminated against and offended because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. We are preparing to give substance to a space that becomes a place of inclusion and strengthens the associative activities we offer, aimed at bringing people together and promoting the social and cultural growth of the city and the province," commented Emanuele Avagliano, President of Arcigay Salerno.
In addition to the President of the Territorial Committee, the event will be attended by Anna Claudia Petrillo, Delegate for Territories for Arcigay Nazionale, and Daniela Lourdes Falanga, Delegate for the Fight against Mafia, Prisons, and Legality for the Arcigay National Secretariat. Gabriele Piazzoni, Arcigay General Secretary, will be present and will close the opening ceremony. Francesco Napoli, former President of Arcigay Salerno and Head of the Salerno Regional Planning Commission (CAD), will provide a detailed presentation of the service's operations.
“"With the opening of this space, the journey that has characterized my work since my first day at Arcigay Salerno concludes. For over fifteen years, our organization has sought and strived to create a dignified space for the provincial LGBTQIA+ community and to offer a stable service to victims of discrimination. Today, this goal is achieved thanks also to the commitment of the Department of Social Policies and the Local Social Area," commented Francesco Napoli, Head of the Salerno CAD. "It is a service aimed at the most vulnerable people and those close to them, victims of a culture and language of hatred, of explicit insults as well as subtle discrimination, marginalization and exclusion," Napoli continued. "It is therefore a matter of offering, with professionalism, opportunities for self-determination and redemption to those who are subjected to violence on a daily basis, but also of working to create opportunities for awareness, promotion and growth of the local community. I am thinking above all of the younger generations, the world of schools and sports, companies and public administrations, the prisons and healthcare facilities. We are ready to offer information and training in all those living and working contexts that can pose challenges to the serenity and full realization of gay, lesbian, trans*, and bisexual people, or that, in general, can become dangerous, exclusionary, and violent spaces in terms of practices and language,” continued Francesco Napoli, Psychologist and Psychotherapist who will be responsible for launching and consolidating the service.
The Salerno CAD is part of the National CAD Network and draws on the experience of dozens of similar services that have emerged throughout Italy in recent years. Like the CAV (Anti-Violence Centers) for women victims of violence, the CADs also provide first contact, care, and support for victims through an emergency number, initial reception, and subsequent legal and psychological support.
“"The next challenge," Napoli concludes, "will be to complete this ecosystem with significant attention to the issue of victims' educational and employment inclusion. This final step toward independence often becomes truly arduous. Arcigay Salerno, in recent years, has supported employment inclusion projects with excellent results. However, we cannot rely on one-off actions but must build stable paths to dignity and serenity, starting with access to income, healthcare, and housing. In this sense, once again, a local alliance will be essential to build sustainable and concrete practices. We will therefore move toward convening meetings and thematic discussions with the relevant institutions and organizations to jointly build and consolidate this path.".
The ribbon-cutting ceremony and toast will take place at the service's new headquarters on Via Romualdo II Guarna in the city's historic center, just steps from the railway trench.
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