Forza Italia councillor tables a motion to moderate LGBT activist’s “too showy” grave
A politician from Silvio Berlusconi’s party is protesting the colour of an LGBT activist’s grave and has declared it “too showy.”
Andrea Ballabio, who is part of the centre-right Forza Italia party, is protesting against the grave of Carlo Annoni, a 61-year-old nurse who died in April, reports The Local.
Married to fellow LGBT rights activist and partner of 36 years Carlo Spranger, it was his mourning husband who decorated the grave in the pair’s favourite colours, as well as photos of the couple.
The grave, which is in colours of blue and yellow, appears to have incensed councillor Ballabio, who is tabling a motion to monitor the shapes and sizes of the graves that appear in the graveyard in Mariano Comense in Como, Lombardy.
Declaring that the grave is “too showy and colourful”. Ballabio said the design was “almost an insult to the other deceased and their loved ones.”
Ballabio’s comments have received a spate of criticism from members of the public and other members of the LGBT community.
The local LGBT rights organization, named Arcigay Varese, has called on Forza Italia to withdraw the motion.
“We believe that everyone has the right to determine, as they believe best, how to commemorate a deceased person. The motion presented by Forza Italia is insensitive and out of place,” said Giovanni Boschini, Arcigay Vaerse’s local president, in a statement.
Spanger and Annoni travelled to London so that they could enter a civil partnership in 2010.before the same-sex ceremonies had been legalized in Italy, and two years ago they returned to the UK to get married.
In 2012, they decided to get married in the UK when same-sex marriage was legalised.
The pair were unable to marry in Italy until 2014.
In memory of his partner, Spanger has also set up a script-writing prize for LGBT-themed writing in English, Italian, and French.
Images: Corrado Spranger’s Facebook
