Italy: Deputy responds to letter of suicidal gay teen

A gay teenager in Italy who wrote an impassioned letter published in a newspaper has been invited to parliament by the President of the Chamber of Deputies.

Davide Tancredi wrote to La Repubblica newspaper in a letter published 25 May: “I am gay, I am 17-years old and this letter is my last alternative to suicide in a troglodyte society; in a world that does not accept me even though I’m born that way.

“Not everyone is fortunate enough to be born heterosexual. If there was a little less discrimination and a little more sympathy or Christian charity, people would stop hating.”

The Independent reports that Laura Boldrini, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, responded to the letter by inviting Mr Tancredi to parliament to discuss LGBT rights with him.

“I have a daughter not much older than you, and I’m deeply disturbed by your cry for help,” she wrote.

“A country that considers itself civilised cannot afford to live without a law against ‘homophobia, an evil that drives many young people to take their own lives,” she added, criticising Italy’s lack of anti-discrimination laws.

ILGA-Europe’s 2013 report states that Italy is not taking any legislative initiatives despite having a “relatively high level” of violent homophobia and transphobia.

Boldrini has angered the Italian right by defying her neutral position as speaker to make statements on social issues such as LGBT rights.

On the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia this month she gave a  speech condemning macho culture for reducing “women to objects and homosexuals to caricatures.”

Earlier this month a junior equalities minister lasted less than 24 hours in her post as a member of Italy’s new coalition government, after she said that gay people invite discrimination by “ghettoising” themselves.

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• May 11

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