The statements made by Sulmona's PDL mayor, Fabio Federico, in a promotional video produced as part of the last local election campaign are unacceptable from the perspective of civility and incomprehensible to those who base their lives and actions on such civility. In the video, Sulmona's mayor makes a series of utterly homophobic statements, intended to portray homosexuality as a mental illness, or worse, as a "genetic aberration.".
In recent days, Arcigay sent an open letter to Fabio Federico, reminding him that homosexuality is no longer considered an illness; rather, it is the homophobia he himself is displaying that should be considered as such. To date, the Sulmona mayor has not only failed to withdraw and distance himself from those statements, as requested in the open letter by Arcigay Consoli of L'Aquila and the UAAR Association of Abruzzo, but he even confirmed the relevance of this position in an interview with the newspaper Repubblica on June 17, 2011, conducted by journalist Marco Pasqua.
Responding to Mayor Federico's remarks, Arcigay National President Paolo Patanè responded: "The statements made by the mayor of Sulmona are unworthy and unrealistic. We demand their immediate retraction. Gays, lesbians, and transgender people demand respect, and it's unacceptable that a mayor who is a doctor, who clearly would have done better to spend more time studying, would indulge in homophobic, offensive, and completely unscientific statements. Precisely to stem the spread of homophobia and anti-gay hatred, approval of the extension of the Mancino law to include homophobic crimes is urgently needed. As for the homophobic mayor, we ask how he managed to obtain a medical degree.".
