Lucca, 15 June 2024 – A furious panther that puts its claws on the LGBT community and an eloquent writing: “Stop gay pride, Lucca doesn’t want you”. It is the image of the flyers that appeared this morning in Lucca, after the announcement of the Tuscany pride on September 7. It is the least colorful face (faceless) of the city (to use a euphemism) that does not show itself, but evidently finds voice and space in leafleting.
The phantom claimed responsibility for the gesture and the Catholic and conservative nature of the city, via an email “Patriot Network”a far-right movement that made a timid appearance in Lucca on April 25th.
Lucca anti-pride flyers
The email reads: “With this message, printed on the posters displayed in the city, La Rete dei Patrioti wants to remind the organizers of this ridiculous, vulgar and provocative event, that the city of Lucca is firmly linked to its Catholic roots and to the values of traditional family. The sideshow that will parade in the city on September 7th, flaunting grotesque attitudes and absurd demands, will be a challenge against the good taste and common sense of the people of Lucca but certainly not against a phantom and non-existent oppression towards such a small minority. as overrepresented in the media and in the political and cultural debate. The values against which the eccentric LGBT community is fighting are nothing other than the foundations of every civilization: strong, united, supportive and possibly numerous families, which today are increasingly rare: this is the real emergency that the government and institutions should face: we need laws and investments to support families, children and young people, not the whims of some bizarre protester with a confused identity.”
Although the attempt of the small group of extremists seems to be to defend the Walls from the advance of the pride (an impossible undertaking given the Italian Constitution), the objective they actually achieve is of a completely different nature. Their contrast, in fact, only confirms what the organizers of Toscana Pride claimed in the choice of location: there is a need for pride in Lucca.
