ITALY: Six LGBT Activists Charged With "Disgusting" Kissing At Anti-Gay Protest

Via Gay Star News:

Six LGBTI rights activists have been charged with disturbing the peace because they kissed at an anti-gay protest in March. The public prosecutor’s office notified the six of the charges earlier this month. The three men and three women held a spontaneous, uncoordinated protest against an anti-gay group Sentinelle in Piedi, Standing Sentries, in Perugia, central Italy. The Sentinelle stage demonstrations against gay marriage and efforts to extend hate crime protections to LGBTI people. Members stand silently in plazas, holding books or praying. Two of the activists are members of LGBTI rights group Omphalos and four belong to Bella Queer. All six are accused of disturbing the peace and four are also accused of holding an unlawful demonstration. The prosecutor acted on a police report that accused two of the men of engaging in "a long and passionate kiss on the mouth in front of many families with children and adolescents many of whom are minors, leaving passersby disgusted by such a demonstration."

Human Rights Watch is demanding that the charges be dropped. They note that anti-gay protests are rising due to plans for the introduction of a civil unions bill.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said his government is preparing draft legislation to create civil unions for same-sex couples, while a bill for civil unions drafted by a member of parliament from Renzi’s Democratic Party has already been submitted to the Senate Justice Commission for examination. Flavio Romani, president of Arcigay, explained that LGBT groups in Italy aspire to full marriage equality, but that the civil unions as envisioned in the existing draft legislation would provide virtually the same rights and duties as marriage under Italian law. “We won’t uncork the champagne,” he told Human Rights Watch. “But a big step forward is better than nothing. But it has to be a big step forward.”

Last week the mayors of Milan and Rome registered foreign same-sex marriages in defiance of Italian law.