M5S’ Drago breaks ranks to appear at Verona family day

Tiziana Drago appeared at Verona's family day in spite of M5S' agenda. Photo credit: Il Fatto Quotidiano

VERONA - Tiziana Drago, a member of the 5 Star Movement (M5S), Friday broke ranks with the official party line to appear at the much criticised right-wing World Congress of Families in Verona.

 Drago’s decision to attend the event directly undermines the M5S whose leader, Luigi DI Maio, has repeatedly decried the event. Di Maio this week stated that the issues the convention stood for fought for “a vision of a medieval world.”

 Di Maio, who was quick to distance his party from the League’s support for the event, had previously declared that no one from his party would attend the conference, condemning the regressive implications that the event had for the role of women.

 The World Congress of Families is a self-proclaimed celebration of family, love, and the sanctity of marriage, but it has come under fire as many of its core principles directly oppose abortion, gay partnership, LGBTQ+ rights, and female self-determination amongst other issues.

 Speaking at the opening day of the event, Drago said, “The M5S is not a political reality linked purely to modern political declarations, there are also senators and MPs who are open to the idea of the traditional family.”

 Drago went on to concede that Italy was a secular state but added that “the question of birth is objective and must be addressed.”

 He words came after Family Day leader Massimo Gandolfini condemned abortion in an addressto those present. “In Italy, from 1978 until the present day, six million babies have been killed and 200,000 have been saved,” he said.

 “The Pro-Life movement saved their lives. The (Italian) state has betrayed itself.”

 Voices of opposition have been prominent, and amongst them Veneto’s governor Luca Zaia who said, “if there is any disease it is homophobia, not homosexuality.”

 His thoughts were echoed by Undersecretary to the Council Presidency Vincenzo Spadafora, of the M5S, who declared that “what is to be discussed there (in Verona) will never be on this government’s agenda.”

 Demonstrations against the event and what it stands for are planned across Italy over the coming days.

ea