Gays in italy

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Italy significantly advanced in the 21st century, although LGBTQ people still face various challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, despite public opinion being increasingly liberal and in favor of LGBT rights. Italy has made progress in recent years when it comes to LGBT rights, but there is still room for improvement, particularly in terms of transgender rights.

The country’s laws offer limited legal protections for transgender people, which may affect both local residents and tourists alike. However, Italy has a rich history of homosexuality that goes beyond celebrated artists to embrace common people too. It’s a history traceable by the sole documents deemed worthy of preservation: court records, trials and convictions (mainly concerning men), which reveal the presence of communities and, in some instances, proper subcultures in.

Although homosexuality has been legal in Italy since , long before many other countries allowed it, its LGBT+ rankings are fairly low. Italy ranks: Problems include inequality and discrimination. Discrimination laws against LGBT+ in Italy only cover the workplace, and full marriage and parenthood rights are still lacking.

lgbtq+ rome

In this guide, we’ll share how gay friendly Italy is, the rights that protect the community, the most friendly LGBTQ+ Italian cities, and where to go for exciting nights and events. When talking about Italian history and homosexuality, people often spontaneously invoke the rainbow triad: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio. Knowing that three of the most important artists in history shared my same sexuality gives me a bit of comfort, especially considering recent events in my home country.

After painful years of discussions and many setbacks, Italy finally recognised same-sex civil unions in The senators who voted against it celebrated the news inside parliament by exulting and clapping like their favorite football team had just won the Champions League. Speaking of which, among the over 2, Italian professional footballers, I am not aware of anyone who has come out of the closet.

Not a single one. However, Italy has a rich history of homosexuality that goes beyond celebrated artists to embrace common people too. Way before then, in the 6th century BC, the Etruscans left frescoes in Tarquinia, Lazio depicting men engaging in anal sex, and the Ancient Greeks had imported their same-sex relations—a form of civil education for young men—to their colonies in South Italy.

The stars went to Nero, who allegedly married two of his freedmen, and Trajan, famous for his fondness for boys. Homosexual relationships the way we intend them today—between two free adults—were rarely allowed. Patriarchy was all the rage in the empire and Roman men, who were obsessed with their virility then as now, could have sex with other men only if they took the penetrative role. Male prostitution was very common, regulated, and taxed for a good profit for the Empire.

By the Later Roman Empire, a strict concept of sexuality for the lower class had become dominant. Morality had changed towards a substantial condemnation of homosexuality, which found a perfect match in the incipient Christian ethics. Graffiti in Pompeii reveals the homophobia of the average passerby with some added notes of color. Who knew that, along with numerals and aqueducts, Ancient Romans invented bottom-shaming too? The jurisdiction was passed on to the Byzantines and from there, went straight through the Middle Ages.

We Italians have always had a flair for the dramatic.

There, Dante meets his guardian and teacher Brunetto Latini, described with immense affection and respect. Between the 14th and the 16th centuries, Italy played a privileged role in European history: economy, society and the arts flourished. The almost two centuries of the Italian Renaissance were marked by a renewed interest in classical culture and a rediscovery of forgotten authors, and Plato and his theory of love were brought back to the scene by prominent intellectuals like Marsilio Ficino.

A hopeless misogynist, Plato saw the ideal relationship as one between two men, who, by sublimating physical attraction, would be able to reach wisdom and truth. The City of Lilies was right at the centre of this movement, which guaranteed an unprecedented degree of tolerance towards homosexuals. While other cities punished hundreds of people, Florence kept a more relaxed approach to the matter, so much so that the situation seemed completely out of control to the religious moralists of the time.

Same-sex sexual activity for both men and women became eventually legal in , when the new penal code of the unified country was promulgated. Partly because of this new legal system, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Italy turned into a refuge for homosexuals from northern Europe and the U. It is grotesque that, years later, Fascism would punish homosexuals by sending them to confinement in nearby destinations, often extremely poor islands in the middle of nowhere.

Ironically, today, some of these very locations chosen by the Fascist regime to confine homosexual men have become gay holiday venues. Photo published by the right-wing weekly Il Borghese on October 20, , with the caption: "New hunks. In , Fuori! A year later, a group of gay people publicly demonstrated for their rights for the first time in the history of the country.

Since then, the Italian queer community has been keeping an active role in manifesting and demanding rights.