LGBTQIA+ ASSOCIATIONS: IN THE SQUARE ON MAY 17TH. THEY CAME FOR ME, BUT WE WERE ALL THERE
Bologna, April 17, 2025 – On Saturday, May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, LGBTQIA+* groups will gather in Rome's square shouting: “They came for me, but this time we were all here.”.
The global witch hunt we are witnessing—which is most violently manifested in Orbán's Hungary's decision to ban Pride parades by violating the Constitution—is an example of how a full-scale attack on the rights of women, LGBTQIA*+ people, and racialized and marginalized minorities paves the way for authoritarianism and fascism.
In Italy, there are still those who claim that LGBTQIAphobia doesn't exist or exists elsewhere. In reality, trans and non-binary people—now visible in every school—are increasingly at the center of outright persecution. They are denied the most basic constitutional rights in schools, at work, and in sports. The fetish of the phantom and nonexistent "gender ideology" is used to block any sexual and emotional education in schools aimed at preventing racism, bullying, ableism, and patriarchal violence, of which femicides are just the tip of the iceberg.
We demand the immediate dissolution of the technical committee on "gender dysphoria" (a term we distance ourselves from), established by Roccella and Schillaci without the involvement of trans* people, with the aim of pathologizing their journeys and making them increasingly less accessible, in violation of the WHO's 2018 guidelines.
The attack on our lives doesn't stop here; it also affects rainbow families and LGBTQIA+* parents. We demand an end to state violence that challenges the birth certificates of children with two mothers in court and uses mechanisms like the Varchi law to criminalize homoparenting. We demand recognition at birth of children of same-sex families and LGBTQIA+* people, the right to adoption for all couples and singles, free and guaranteed access to assisted reproduction, equal marriage, and recognition of the plurality of families that already exist in the real country.
We demand a country that recognizes the right to self-determination. We defend the right to free, safe, and affordable abortion for all, and we forcefully demand that pro-life associations be banned from family planning clinics. We demand information and prevention policies for sexual health and psychological well-being. We embrace the demands of lesbians* who, with all their differences, nuances, and intersections, will demonstrate together on April 26th in Rome at the Dyke March, the first lesbian march organized in Italy.
The escalation of attacks we are witnessing must be firmly opposed by supporting cultural and legislative actions against hate crimes. The right to sexual orientation and gender identity, now more than ever, must be defended, rejecting any attempt to pathologize it. This is why we urgently need a law that condemns conversion practices, which affect 1 in 5 LGBTQIA+* people and have been condemned as torture by the United Nations, as well as the mutilation of intersex people.
We openly condemn those who trample on human rights and commit crimes against humanity. We reject racist, militaristic, and colonial policies because we believe in the right of peoples to self-determination. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and all peoples oppressed and tormented by conflict.
The mobilization of next May 17th – promoted by a network of associations that recognize themselves in the manifesto “The Road of Rights” – joins the struggle to defend democratic spaces in the country, from the mobilization against the Security Decree to the ongoing referendum season, with particular attention to the citizenship referendum, made necessary by the government's senseless choices regarding immigration policies and safe countries.
The associations of the “La Strada dei Diritti” network are: AGEDO – Association of Parents, Relatives, and Friends of LGBT+ People; ARC – Cagliari; ARCO – Recreational Association of Homosexual Circles; ARCIGAY – Italian LGBTI+ Association; ALFI – Italian Lesbian Feminist Association; Quore LGBT+ Association; Cammini di Speranza – National Association of Christian LGBT People; CCO Mario Mieli; Trans and Gender Variant Health Center – CEST; Certi Diritti; Dì Gay Project; EDGE LGBTI+ Leaders for Change; Famiglie Arcobaleno – Association of Homosexual Parents; Gay Center; GAYNET – Training and Communication on LGBTI Issues; Gender X; Gruppo Trans APS; Globe MAE; MIT – Trans Identity Movement; NUDI – No One Equal Different Together; Omphalos LGBTI; Polis Aperta – LGBT Association of the Armed Forces and Police; Pride Vesuvio Rainbow; Rete Genitori Rainbow; Lenford Network – Advocacy for LGBTI+ Rights; Gionata's Tent; Tgenus; CGIL National New Rights Office.
