AGI – Dressed as a woman, wearing makeup like a woman, with attitudes and movements like a woman. Woman in all respects. But with documents still to be “rectified”. Until yesterday at a polling station a trans person would have been forced to stand in the men’s line, thus attracting the amazement of all the other people in the queue. So Padua, like Milan, has decided to abolish (with a change to the regulations at no cost but with a great impact) the division into male and female rows.
“The idea was born from listening to the territory – Francesca Benciolini, the councilor for registry services of the Municipality of Padua, explained to AGI – there are people who told us that in having to position themselves within the rows in a phase of transition, therefore with documents not yet completed, they felt a feeling of unease so much so that in some cases they gave up voting. So it’s about guaranteeing equal opportunities for everyone, starting with guaranteeing the right to vote.”
It is perhaps no coincidence that the Pride Village, the largest LGBT+ festival in Italy, has been held in Padua for 17 years, or if the “city of the Saint” has launched a consultation to bring back the gender equality among the statues of Prato della Valle (also compensated through the naming of 30 roundabouts after as many women).
“It’s about a attention, at no cost, which nothing changes in practice but which makes the difference – he continued – exactly like the fact that in all polling stations there is at least one booth of the right height for people with wheelchairs, that blind people can be accompanied to the booth, that all seats are accessible and without stairs. They are all measures for guarantee that the vote can be exercised in complete freedom and serenity”.
Councilor Benciolini, who is not surprisingly keen to be addressed in the female form, also made it known that Udine and other cities have already requested information about the procedure to be followed and that she has sent the material developed for the presidents of the commission in which close this particular attention.
