Zan bill: Italy’s senate blocks anti-homophobia law

The Italian Senate on Wednesday voted down a proposed law against homophobia which faced vehement opposition from right-wing parties and the Vatican.

Published: 27 October 2021 16:15 CEST
Updated: 28 October 2021 10:10 CEST

People hold a banner reading "Zan law now!" at the annual Pride March in Rome, on June 26th, 2021. Photo: Tiziana FABI/AFP

The law, known as the ‘ddl Zan’, sought to punish acts of discrimination and incitement to violence against gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.

It was proposed in May 2018 by Alessandro Zan, a member of parliament from the centre-left Democratic Party, in response to what he called an “exponential rise in the number and seriousness of acts of violence towards gay and transgender people”.

Critics of the law said it risked endangering freedom of expression and would have paved the way for “homosexual propaganda” in schools.

In a 154-131 vote called by the far-right League and Brothers of Italy parties, the upper house agreed to block its passage through parliament after it was approved last November by the lower house.

The vote was secret, meaning that lawmakers did not have to publicly declare their position, allowing several of them to defy their party’s line.

The outcome is a “betrayal of a political pact that wanted the country to take a step towards civilisation”, Zan wrote on Twitter.

Chi per mesi, dopo l’approvazione alla Camera, ha seguito le sirene sovraniste che volevano affossare il #ddlZan è il responsabile del voto di oggi al Senato. È stato tradito un patto politico che voleva far fare al Paese un passo di civiltà. Le responsabilità sono chiare.

— Alessandro Zan (@ZanAlessandro) October 27, 2021

In June, the Vatican took the unprecedented step of lodging a formal diplomatic complaint against the law, saying it breached the Concordat, the bilateral treaty between Italy and the Holy See.

Notably, the Vatican was concerned that under the homophobia law, Catholics risked prosecution for expressing opinions in favour of traditional heterosexual family structures.

In response, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said parliament was “free” to legislate on the issue, as Italy “is a secular state, not a confessional state”.

In July, Zan’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) rejected calls from centrists and those on the right to water down the contents of the bill in a bid to seek bipartisan support.

According to League party leader Matteo Salvini, the PD and the Five Star Movement – which also supported the bill – were defeated for their “arrogance”.

“They said no to all compromise proposals, including those proposed by the Holy Father (Pope Francis), by associations and by many families,” Salvini said.

In Italy, a predominantly Catholic country that is also home to the Vatican, legislation on LGBT issues is particularly sensitive.

However, a poll in July suggested the law had popular backing, with 62 percent of Italians in favour of the reform.

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The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” – adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The Report programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.