The next Pride parade in June will be held at the victims' monument. Six more events will take place at the high school starting in February.
Bologna, January 27, 2012 – Two initiatives today in Bologna dedicated to remembering the persecution of gays and lesbians, as part of the celebrations for Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A brief commemoration took place this morning at the monument to the homosexual victims of Nazi-Fascism in the Gardens of Villa Cassarini. Flavia Madaschi, a mother from Agedo (the association of parents of homosexual people), spoke. The victims were "Jews, first and foremost, but also all those guilty of being different." "A few days ago, a 19-year-old gay American boy, James Borges, committed suicide, unable to bear the bullying he endured every day. And it is precisely this hatred that is why we must never forget the tragedy of the concentration camps, which is nothing more than its most extreme consequence," she said, speaking on behalf of the Bologna Pride 2012 Committee, which is organizing the next national pride parade scheduled for June in the city.
Organizers say the Pride march will certainly stop in a place like this, so symbolic for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community. Here, straddling Viale Aldini, just steps away are the commemorative plaque and the Cassero di Porta Saragozza, the movement's historic headquarters and landmark.
Starting at 8:00 a.m., the Arcigay Il Cassero school group will be at the Copernico High School, meeting this morning for a school assembly. The young staff members have been invited to coordinate a series of activities: workshops, film screenings, and presentations of other materials lent by the Cassero Documentation Center. All will focus on the violence perpetrated against homosexuals by Nazism and Fascism (see attached image). However, there will also be connections to other experiences of systematic persecution, such as that of Stalin's Soviet Union.
Today's meeting, explains Ezio De Gesu, head of the School Group, will be followed by six more starting February 6th. The initiative, called "Together with Others," will focus on the themes of identity and bullying. It will be part of the students' extracurricular activities and will be voluntary.
