:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/5RFPBIYNT5C2JKSIFQF7FVWJZM.jpg "Thousands of Italians took to the streets to demand a law against homophobia")
Thousands of Italians demonstrate between now and Monday in 50 places in the country to call for the immediate and unchanged approval of the Zan bill against discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation.
In the country this project is known as this by the deputy Alessandro Zan, rapporteur of what may become the first law against homophobia in the country but which has been stagnant for months in Parliament due to the fierce opposition of the right and the far right.
From this Saturday until Monday, organizations in favor of the rights of all people regardless of their sexual orientation have convened concentrations in cities throughout the national territory, from Ancona, to Bari, through Bergamo, Rome, Florence, Siena, Taranto or Verona.
In Rome, the rally held in Florence was held in Piazza del Popolo, which usually hosts mass demonstrations, and the rally held in Florence also had hundreds of defenders of this bill.
The associations indicated in the call that this initiative “continues to be held hostage by the right in Parliament and with the opposition of the most reactionary forces in the country” and they asked “that it be approved immediately and without changes.”
“In recent months we have heard too many excuses and justifications for the delay of this bill that does not divide, does not annul freedom of expression, but names the discrimination that occurs in Italy with the silence of all”, they pointed.
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/JLSET4RACOVAKGDKUGPECW7GQU.jpg "Thousands of Italians took to the streets to demand a law against homophobia 1")
In parallel, the city of Milan hosted this Saturday a demonstration of supporters of pro-life associations and in defense of the family, in which the leader of the far-right Matteo Salvini participated.
“The ‘Zan law’ is a discriminatory law that aims to accuse all dissenting voices as homophobic” that support “the concept of a family made up of a mother and a father,” the vice president of one of the organizing associations, Jacopo Coghe, told the media.
But in Milan itself, a demonstration in favor of the bill will also be held tomorrow, like other cities such as Naples, Palermo or Salerno.
“Italy has to decide which side it is on: if with most of the more advanced countries or if it slides towards liberticides, such as Poland and Hungary,” which are “very reminiscent of Nazism and apartheid,” Deputy Alessandro Zan explained to Efe, rapporteur of what may become the first law against homophobia in the country.
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/VH7DUOGCHJB3VI24TPWOPCMIQQ.jpg "Thousands of Italians took to the streets to demand a law against homophobia 2")
The deputy of the Democratic Party and rapporteur of the law against Italian homophobia, Alessandro Zan, during an interview with the Efe Agency in Rome’s Parliament Square.
According to the “Rainbow Map” of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association of Europe (ILGA-Europe), which measures the degree of legal protection of the LGTB community for each country, Italy has 23% protection, far from neighboring countries such as Spain (67%), the United Kingdom (66%), France (56%) or Germany (51%).
“We hope that there may be a law against hate crimes this year “, said Zan, although his parliamentary journey is being very complicated by “obstructionism”, as denounced by the PD, the president of the Senate Justice Commission, Andrea Ostellari, of the far-right Lega.
The deputy of the progressive Democratic Party (PD) defends that the law will allow Italy “to approach European countries to give Europe a united voice”, against “countries like Hungary and Poland, which are dismantling civil rights and freedoms. individual women and the LGTB + community”.