In terms of lgbti rights we are the proverbial tail light among the EU countries. The photograph was taken by the federation of the lgbt + Ilga acronyms on the Europe Rainbow map : Italy is 35th out of 49 countries analyzed. And according to another report published by the European Fundamental Rights Agency (Fra), Italy is among the first countries with the highest discrimination index according to the interviewees (19%). Both reports indicate the absence of a law against hatred and discrimination in Italy - present, among other things, in almost all EU countries, from France to Spain to Germany - a situation that causes our peninsula to descend at the bottom of the charts. It is no coincidence that Ilga recommends “the introduction of legislation on hate crime and hate speech that covers all crimes motivated by prejudices based on sexual orientation and gender identity ".
A paradox if you think that, in reality, such a law has been working for almost 25 years without significant results . The first proposal was in fact presented in 1996 by Nichi Vendola, then a member of the Communist Refoundation. Ten years later, recommendations from the European Parliament also arrived, but in Italy it was nothing. A small step forward in the previous legislature when the text was approved in the chamber and then ran aground in the senate. Now to try again is the deputy Alessandro Zan(of the Democratic Party), first signatory of the bill which, according to a first draft of the text, aims to standardize and unify five previous proposals on the same theme (Boldrini, Zan, Scalfarotto, Perantoni, Bartolozzi). An indication of the urgency to approve this law is the fact that Zan himself has received thoughtful insults on social networks in recent days, which ordered him to withdraw it.
"To understand the need and urgency of a good law on misogyny and homotransphobia, it is enough to look around, open the pages of a newspaper, or simply talk to the victims of discrimination and hatred, as it often happens to me ," he says to Wired Monica Cirinnà , senator of the Democratic Party and champion of another pivotal law on the issue of LGBT rights, namely that of 2016 civil unions . For this reason, " a law is necessary and urgent" - continues the senator - “Because Italy needs to strengthen the culture of equality and respect for others: and this can happen by punishing hatred and violence, but also by promoting concrete cultural actions and supporting victims. And this is exactly what the Zan draft does: prevent, contrast, support ”.
What does the bill provide?
In summary, the draft text - anticipated by L'Espresso - acts in two directions: on the one hand the modification of the penal code and on the other it intervenes on the Mancino law (i.e. the law decree n.122 of 26 April 1993 which modified the installation of the so-called Royal law of 1975). Read more via Wired