‘They are far behind our society’: Italy’s LGBTQ+ community in danger after killing protection law

Conservatism, sexism, a powerful Catholic Church and the far-right have contributed to Italy’s slow progress in LGBTQ+ matters, reports Sofia Barbarani

Protest in support of a proposed anti-discrimination bill (REUTERS)

The cheers of the Italian senate’s far-right members were deafening as they raucously celebrated shooting down another chance to protect the Italian LGBTQ+ community.

And when the jeering finally ended, activists said hopes for a fairer Italy had been dashed in Italy when the anti-homophobic bill was deliberately killed.

“The senators who killed the law have shown that they are far behind our society,” the leader of the Democratic Party and former prime minister Enrico Letta told The Independent. “Especially [behind] the young people, whom they should also represent.”