Mayor's turnaround as Venice gay pride given green light

"Renzi, let us all marry": Venice Gay Pride celebrations last year

 

ROME- Depsite the mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro having ruled that gay pride celebrations will not be held in the city, he announced on Friday that the celebrations will now be taking place this year, a complete contradiction to his statement just days before. Brugnaro had told those who oppose the ruling to “go and do it in Milan, or in front of their own homes” and that Venice will never hold a gay pride again.

 Although supporting the welcoming of cruise ships on Venice’s canals and huge flows of tourists to the city’s streets, Brugnaro had deemed the gay pride celebrations “the height of kitsch.” Brugnaro, a businessman who was elected into office in June through his centre right party, also had vowed that “there will never be a gay pride in (his) city,” in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

 Brugnaro faced criticism earlier this month, notably from singer Elton John when the mayor withdrew all picture books with homosexual content from public school libraries. John, who has a house on one of Venice’s islands, called out Brugnaro and said that he was “championing a future society that’s divisive and fosters ignorance.” The mayor has since responded, saying that he is not against homosexuals, but he must “think about the majority of families where there is a mother and a father." He also told John to keep out of Venice’s business. In solidarity, 250 Italian authors asked the city’s authorities for their books to also be banned.

Opposition to Brugnaro had also come in the form of Italy’s main gay rights association, Arcigay: “Venice is not his city. At the moment he is governing it, but he won’t last long given the fool he is making of himself,” had said the association’s president Flavio Romani, and had warned the mayor that he was “becoming obsessed with this.”

However, Brugnaro retracted his previous statement on Friday at a press conference, with the announcement that the 2015 edition of Venice gay pride will be taking place. He promised that he will attend the festivities, and that the celebration will be the first of its kind on water, being held along the Grand Canal. Brugnaro also expressed his desire for Elton John to play at the event. The Venice mayor, on behalf of the city council, also endorsed the "Queer Lion Award", an award for the best films that deal with LGBT themes. 

The situation has come in the midst of a struggle within the government, where a legislation to legalise civil partnerships has been delayed several times by centre right parties. Italy, predominantly Roman Catholic, remains the sole country without civil partnerships or gay marriages in Western Europe.

“It is a national scandal,” said Arcigay's president. “Sadly in this country, some politicians listen more to what the bishops tell them rather than what society is saying.”