Viterbo, June 4, 2026. Pride is still necessary wherever a person's existence can be made more fragile by hatred, stigma, or social isolation. Its history stems from the voices of LGBTQIA+ people, and it continues to speak from that position, but its political strength lies in the way an entire community chooses to stand alongside the most vulnerable and those most easily left alone. In an area like Tuscia, where distance from services and the difficulty of exposing oneself in smaller settings often make it more difficult to ask for help, a local Pride event cannot simply declare its roots. It must demonstrate its knowledge of the region it serves, acknowledging both its shortcomings and the healing practices already in place.
For this reason, we will be on the streets on June 6th, sharing the political value of a march that passes through the urban space and makes visible bodies, relationships, and identities that are too often tolerated only when they remain in the shadows. Our participation in the square, however, also aims to be accompanied by a constructive contribution. Precisely because Pride is grounded in its political necessity, we believe it is important to participate calmly in the discussion on the manifesto, which shapes its public connotation and defines its position.
The theme of care, chosen as the symbolic axis of this edition, is clearly powerful. Talking about care means talking about how a community takes responsibility for the most vulnerable and the responses it can provide when one of its members is affected. However, if this concept fails to recognize those who care, listen, and support in the community, then it risks not being sufficient to build a political position fully rooted in real practices and needs.
The political manifesto proposed for TusciaPride 2026 contains demands that are part of the history of LGBTQIA+ struggles and that we recognize as part of a shared vision. Precisely for this reason, we believe the relationship between the manifesto and the real Tuscia can be further explored. It would be important to more clearly highlight the history of local associations, the services already in place, the expertise built over the years, and the needs encountered by those working in the field every day. The document makes many requests to institutions, most of which we fully support, but it could certainly more clearly highlight the experiences that have already built strongholds, relationships, and expertise in the province.
For years, and in some cases decades, local associations have been working against violence, discrimination, and social isolation. They do so with often insufficient resources and with a daily presence that continues over the long term, listening, supporting, and building trust. For this reason, we believe it is essential to ensure that Tuscia does not appear, even implicitly, as a blank slate on which everything remains to be written.
A truly territorial political platform should start from the recognition of this work, understand the effort involved and ask the institutions to support it rather than create it. from scratch. When it comes to anti-discrimination, health, or education, it's important to know what measures are already in place, what challenges they face, and what alliances can be built. A political demand becomes stronger when it stems from this knowledge, because it can more precisely indicate what to support, what to strengthen, and what alliances to build.
Indeed, care requires, first and foremost, continuity. It cannot appear only during the brief period of Pride, when the square makes everything more visible, and then disappear throughout the rest of the year, when people once again confront hatred, discrimination, and loneliness. Caring means acknowledging the daily work of those who keep important facilities open and knowing that every attack directed at a person, a group, or a local entity affects the entire community that gathers around those facilities. Solidarity, when it is political, is not an accessory gesture or a formula of circumstance, but the minimum form of shared responsibility. Leaving one part of the network isolated means weakening all the people who, in that area, are trying to build care.
A Pride event that speaks of "resistance" can strengthen its position by positioning itself more clearly in the time in which it takes place. This general framework could emerge more forcefully in the manifesto, because in Italy and Europe, the rights of LGBTQIA+ people have been suffering concrete setbacks for years, and we want to voice our concern. The transformation of surrogacy into a universal crime, the European Union's decision to defer the fight against restorative practices to non-binding instruments, the normalization of hate speech, and the return of authoritarian political cultures are not marginal elements. They are the context within which a Pride event today must be placed. For this reason, too, anti-fascism cannot remain in the background, as an implicit premise or ornamental memory. In a country where the continuity of evil makes hierarchies, exclusions, and dehumanizations acceptable once again, declaring which side one is on is part of the Pride's political responsibility. We want to reiterate: without explicit anti-fascism, Pride loses a crucial part of its political genealogy.
From this same perspective, we view the critique of patriarchy and gender roles as an essential part of the fight against violence against LGBTQIA+ people. The patriarchal norm that punishes those who deviate from the dominant model fuels much of this violence. A transfeminist perspective allows us to view it not as isolated incidents, but as the effects of social models that impose conformity and restrict people's space for self-determination.
We also believe it is politically necessary to forcefully mention Gaza and Palestine. For two years, the genocide of the Palestinian people has been a major focus of international debate, prompting movements to question themselves and calling into question the responsibility of every individual who speaks about rights, freedom, and physical dignity. In a document that chooses care as its founding theme, the absence of Palestine risks weakening the political coherence of the entire manifesto. The Palestinian question also concerns the way a movement that speaks about rights, freedom, and dignity chooses which lives to protect and which to leave on the margins of its political discourse.
We will therefore be in the square on June 6th with a clear and responsible position. We will bring to Pride the work of those who work year-round in Tuscia, the demand for verifiable care in practices, a solidarity capable of exposing itself when hatred strikes, a declared anti-fascism, and a clear voice in defense of Palestine and its martyred people. Pride Square belongs neither to a document, nor to a single acronym, nor to a closed political perimeter; it belongs, instead, to the people who pass through it and to the communities that make it necessary.
Arcigay Viterbo – Peter Boom APS
Co-signatory associations:
Erinna APS
APS Kyanos
Why I Sign APS
