The Lombardy Region does not change course, and once again distances itself from the celebrations for Pride month. In Italy, June has been since 1994 LGBTQIA+ Pride Montha period during which many Italian cities will be dotted with parades, processions and demonstrations that celebrate or claim the achievements, visibility and pride of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual community and anyone is not reflected in the definition of heterosexual. The culmination of these events occurs in the Pride marchonce known as Gay Pride (a definition that is no longer used today – or, better said, that should no longer be used – because it excludes all the other realities that make up the LGBTQIA+ universe) which will take to the streets over these 30 days from all over the world, with different degrees of freedom of expression: in some areas, in fact, it is a more than consolidated event, which enjoys the support of the institutions, in others it is, still today, a real challenge to governments , national or local, who enact discriminatory laws against the rainbow community and they propagate further, pointing it out as threatening to the traditional familythe “gender theory”.
Between the two extremes, Italy is more moved towards the second, and compared to a Europe that is increasingly aligning itself towards positions of openness and validation of civil rights for the queer community (the last example is that of Greecewhich from 15 February 2024 became the first Orthodox Christian country to have legalized marriage and adoption for gay couples at the behest of a conservative prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis) remains entrenched in positions that are openly opposed to the LGBTQI+ world. Directly is the annual Rainbow Europe report and also the one just drawn up by Forbidden Colours, an association based in Belgium which in the QueerYourEU report analyzed the votes of MEPs from various countries on issues related to LGBTQ+ rights in the last five years. Italy is in third to last place out of 27 countries, just before Hungary and Poland. “Three member states – Italy, Hungary and Poland – show a very low or even negative voting indicator (between -0.5 and 0.7),” reads the report, “revealing that a large part of their MEPs consistently vote against texts that defend the fundamental rights of LGBTIQ+ people”. In the EU as within national borders, Italy, or rather the politicians who today hold the reins of government, do not give an inch and continue to marginalize the queer community. Which is not on the agenda and realistically will continue not to be. Having established this, the Lombardy Region simply seems to be an institution in continuity and alliance with the government in office, and for this reason it is not surprising that he decided, as on other occasions in the past, including last year, to deny patronage to the Milan Pride.
Unlike 2022, when, thanks to a motion from the Five Star Movement, for the first time in the history of Pride, the “green” band of Lombardy marched in the annual parade organized by the galaxy of organizations in defense of LGBT+ rights, this 2024 confirms what happened in 2023, and a few days before the demonstration on June 2nd, which will be followed by the official one on the 29th, the usual no arrived. The decision was made official by the presidential office of the regional council, made up of five councilors: the president Federico Romani (Brothers of Italy), Giacomo Cosentino (Ideal Lombardy), Alessandra Cappellari (Lega) for the majority; and Emilio Delbono (Pd) and Iacopo Scandella (Pd) for the opposition. Surprisingly, Melonian councilor Romani decided to abstain, while the yes came from the two dem councilors Delbono and Scandella. The majority parties in the Region defended the choice made. “We share the need to combat all forms of discrimination”, wrote the regional councilors Cosentino and Capellari in a note, who voted no to the motion: “But we believe that there are no conditions to support and patronize, as the Regional Council of Lombardy, a demonstration that proved to be divisive, provocative and discriminating towards the generating nucleus of human life, made up of a woman and a man”. The organizers of Pride, supported, however, by the mayor of Milan Beppe Sala (who invited grandparents to participate “bringing their grandchildren with them”) wrote in a post on social media that “Milan Pride is a demonstration of freedom. The role of an institution should be to promote respect, to guarantee equal rights, dignity and protection to citizens – to all citizens, including LGBTQIA+ ones. This is why we asked for patronage from the Lombardy Region again this year: we were denied again.”
With this story we return, again to gender theory, which, according to a conspiracy theory widely supported also in the West, and above all in the ultra-conservative American states, would have as its objective precisely that of threatening heterosexual couples and families. In recent decades, in every part of the world, steps have been laboriously made towards equal access, opportunities and results in study and work for women and girls. Although less universal, there have also been important legislative and cultural changes to recognize LGBTQ+ people and protect them from discrimination. But, and we are also seeing it here (even before Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s electoral campaign was based on God, homeland and family), an enemy reaction is growing and spreading. From the United States to Uganda, sexual and reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights are under attack. Researchers (CNN talks about it extensively here) define this phenomenon the “anti-gender movement” and warn that it threatens women’s rights, gender and sexual diversity and democracy itself. Lombardy, therefore, is just one piece of an increasingly larger puzzle. Which, it is feared, could widen even further after the European elections.
