Prime Minister Mario Draghi stressed the independence of the Italian parliament after the Vatican asked for changes to an anti-discrimination bill that would provide added protection from hate crimes to LGBTQ people.
The Italian government said the new law would increase protection for LGBT+ peopleImage: imago/Pacific Press Agency
Advertisement
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi hit back at the Vatican on Wednesday, after the Catholic Church expressed reservations about an anti-discrimination bill under debate in Italy.
The Holy See claimed earlier this month that a draft law to combat homophobia could interfere with religious freedom.
But Draghi, a practicing Catholic, said parliament was free to discuss laws and legislate.
Draghi on Wednesday hit out at the Vatican's decision to wade into the Italian political debateImage: Gregorio Borgia/POOL/AFP/Getty Images
"Ours is a secular state, not a religious state," he told the Senate, Italy's upper chamber of parliament. "Our legal system contains all the guarantees to ensure that laws always respect constitutional principles and international commitments.”
A 1929 agreement established the Vatican City as a sovereign state and governs its relations with Italy.
The Vatican, in a letter delivered to the Italian Embassy to the Holy See on June 17, said the planned legislation could undermine that accord.
Officials at the Vatican fear the current text could lead to Catholics being prosecuted if they refuse to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies or oppose adoption by same-sex couples.
Advertisement
Why has the bill not been passed yet?
The bill, which adds LGBTQ and disabled people to a law that punishes discrimination and hate crimes, has been stuck in the Italian Senate for months amid conservative opposition to the proposed legislation.
Italy's lower house of parliament passed the draft law, dubbed the "Zan bill" after openly gay legislator Alessandro Zan who helped author it, in November.
Pope says Christians owe gays an apology
00:40
This browser does not support the video element.
Supporters of the changes have also criticized the Vatican for "interfering” in politics.
"Parliament is sovereign and won't accept interference," the speaker of the lower house, Roberto Fico, was quoted as saying by Italian state broadcaster RAI on Wednesday.
But right-wing parties back the Vatican's stance, although Pope Francis is yet to publicly comment on the bill.
"I thank the Vatican for its good sense," said Matteo Salvini, the leader of the populist League party.
What has Pope Francis said about LGBTQ issues?
Francis has taken more liberal stances on homosexuality since becoming pontiff in 2013.
Pope interview hints at reform steps
01:18
This browser does not support the video element.
He was filmed in a documentary last year expressing support for "civil unions" between same-sex couples.
But the pope in March endorsed a statement by the Vatican's Office for Doctrine that declared it was "impossible" to bless same-sex unions because "God cannot bless sin."
Italy approved civil unions in 2016, but data compiled by gay rights campaigners ILGA Europe placed the country 35th out of 49 European and Central Asian countries on a list ranking how LGBTQ people were treated.
Naples: LGBT+ activism beyond the pride parade
Naples is home to one of the world's biggest transgender communities, activists say. A grassroots movement here is fighting gender discrimination as it builds an alliance against stereotypes.
Image: DW/V. Muscella
Dedicated to the cause
Daniela Lourdes Falanga, 42, is the first transgender woman to chair the Naples branch of Arcigay, the leading Italian organization for the protection of LGBT+ people and the fight against gender discrimination. She was the first son of a local mafia boss.
Image: DW/V. Muscella
Culture of tolerance
Naples is considered a welcoming and tolerant city. Activists claim it has the world's second-largest transgender community.
Image: DW/V. Muscella
Building a movement
Arcigay has been fighting for equal rights, self-determination and smashing stereotypes and prejudices against LGBT+ people since 1985. There were 41 Pride parades in Italy in 2018. Five years earlier there were only five.
Image: DW/V. Muscella
First gay pride event
A mural depicts the legs of drag queen Sylvia Rivera. She may or may not have been at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in June 1969, when drag queens and other patrons fought back against police harassment. The Stonewall riots, a series of clashes that marked the beginning of the LGBT+ rights movement. It's unclear who threw the first brick — or high heel; it doesn't appear to have been Rivera.
Image: DW/V. Muscella
Father of the 'Pride Wave'
Antonello Sonnino, 42, is Arcigay Italy's sports spokesperson. He began his career as an activist after the 2010 death of Marcella Di Folco, a leader in Italy's LGBT+ rights movement who also starred in movies directed by Fellini and Rossellini. Sonnino presided over Arcigay Naples for six years and came up with the idea for the "Pride Wave," a joint political platform for all LGBT+ marches.
Image: DW/V. Muscella
Student support
The University of Naples Federico II set up a help desk, the Synapse Center, where Daniela Lourdes Falanga also works, to support and promote the active and full participation of LGBT+ students. The university was the first in Italy to grant students an "alias career," which allows them to decide how they want their gender to be defined and to use the name they prefer.
Image: DW/V. Muscella
Femminielli resistance
"Femminielli" here, in the San Giovanniello neighborhood, took part in the September 1943 popular uprising against the Nazis, remembered as the "Four Days of Naples." "Femminiello" is a term used to refer to males with markedly feminine gender expression in traditional Neapolitan culture. They were first mentioned in literature in the 16th century
Image: DW/V. Muscella
'Love and nothing else'
"This illiterate heart you brought to school, and learned to write and learned to read one word: 'Love' and nothing else.'' The verses of a poem by Neapolitan actor Antonio De Curtis, best known by his stage name Toto, illuminate a street in Rione Sanita, one of the neighborhoods with the highest number of transgender people of Naples.
