Bologna, May 15, 2014 – “We learned with astonishment and indignation of the homophobic graffiti that was defaced on the facade of the Waldensian Evangelical Church in Piazza Cavour in Rome”: Flavio Romani, president of Arcigay, spoke about the attack that the Waldensian community in Rome was subjected to last night. ”First of all, we express our full solidarity with the believing community: this attack, the infamous trace of a return of fascism, strikes a religious institution that, on the occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia, displays a rainbow flag on the facade of the church and organizes a prayer vigil for the victims of homophobia. In short, even prayer irritates the homophobes of the capital. It is clear then that we are truly scraping rock bottom: intolerance and discrimination are practices that in Italy, rather than being banned, draw strength and legitimacy from a widespread climate of underestimation and the proliferation of models, especially in politics, that essentially mirror the The same content as the graffiti that now defaces the Roman church. The solution, says Romani, is certainly not within reach, but the institutions' acceptance of responsibility for these increasingly recurring incidents could at least instill confidence in those who suffer these infamies or are helpless bystanders. Instead, for now, the only certainty is those swastikas and the fact that they won't be the last we'll be forced to see.
