[:en]In the legislature we are leaving behind, the LGBTI community has reached the finishing line of the law on civil unions, a law that did not provide us with the full equality we have always sought, but it marked the first institutional recognition of the existence of our families, acknowledging fundamental rights and protections, and simultaneously triggered a broad cultural shift in our society, which is still ongoing. However, alongside this legislative victory and all its institutional implications, we cannot fail to note that the other legislative issues on which we have focused our attention have remained unfulfilled, from the implementation of effective laws and policies to combat and prevent all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, to recognize the parental capacity of LGBTI people and the consequent rights of our children.
Several negative factors threaten to block the path to our continued action. First and foremost, it is evident—and worrying—the shift of part of public opinion toward more conservative positions, at best, if not downright illiberal, populist, and reactionary, which wink at the neo-fascist and neo-Nazi movements, in Italy as in Europe, and recently also in the United States. This climate of cultural backwardness, from which few European countries are immune, is characterized by a phenomenon even more disturbing for us: the welding of intent and action between neo-fascist forces and the anti-gender movement. An alliance we've seen at work over the past year with combined actions against bullying prevention programs in schools, against cultural initiatives, and in general with the stubborn intention of spreading collective paranoia linked to the phantom "gender ideology." After the issue of "migrants," it's clear that the "LGBTI" issue, and all sexual rights and freedoms in general, are at the top of this reactionary coalition's political agenda. In this context, the issue of children It is used as a barrier between LGBTI people and society, sold as the last frontier of resistance against the dissolution of society and the nation. And indeed, the irrational fear of how LGBTI people might corrupt or threaten children has been used to remove stepchild adoption from the Civil Unions Act, hinder our work in schools, and block any discussion of inclusive reform of adoption law.
To relaunch our narrative of open and inclusive society of diversity and to give an effective response to the cultural erosion underway with the reactionary advance. It is necessary to focus unambiguously on values of freedom and diversity, essential for the healthy development of society, families and individuals. Aware of this burdensome task, however, we must also know that it is fundamental and urgent play an active and effective role in the upcoming electoral transition, encouraging candidates and political forces on issues central to our agenda, cooperating in publicly highlighting those candidates who support our demands, and ensuring the public—LGBTI and otherwise—knows exactly who they're voting for. We must therefore focus on a few points on which to seek direct political commitment. What we propose is a program that doesn't exhaust Arcigay's full range of demands and commitments, but it allows us to effectively engage the electoral process and engage the public on five specific points:
- Legislation to create a single institution of marriage for couples regardless of the spouses' gender.
- Legislative measures to combat and prevent hate crimes, violence, and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Legislation that aligns our regulations with those of more advanced countries, which recognize the path toward depathologizing the transgender condition through the adoption of the principle of individual freedom of self-determination.
- Adoption options available to same-sex couples and individuals.
- Access to medically assisted procreation procedures for same-sex couples through an amendment to Law 40, recognition of parenthood at birth, and resolution of issues regarding recognition of the parent-child relationship for existing same-sex families.
This summary is the result of the political document discussed and voted on in the Arcigay National Council of 25/26 November.[:]