A participant at the Gay Pride Parade in Rome Saturday holds up a sign saying “I can get Married in France”. Note the Eiffel Tower in the jeweled crown. Gay marriage in France was legalized in May of this year. It is not legal in Italy and I think it will be a long time before it is. We won’t be seeing Coliseums in jeweled crowns of transvestites any time soon.
The posts of the past two days are why I love working in Rome. One day I am covering the Vatican, and the next a Gay Pride March. (Actually I didn’t cover the March yesterday, my colleagues Paolo Lucariello and Annalisa Camilli covered for AP Television, and Andrew Medichini, who covered for AP photo, generously gave me these photos. I was busy with a birthday party, a end of the year dance performance and a class dinner. June is a wicked month for Mammas in Rome.) Still, the Gay Pride March is one of my favorite events to cover. While at the Vatican the ceremonies are marked by elaborate pomp and majesty, the Gay Pride has its own elaborate pomp of a different sort. It is filled with outrageous, provocative costumes, trucks packed with grooving transvestities, and strollers pushed by gay mothers. There is hugging and kissing, dancing and singing, it is one big rolling, happy, carefree party.
I am sorry I missed it yesterday, there is nothing that puts one in a good mood faster than a day at Gay Pride.
So the Pope should go . . . the Parade could raise his spirits, and maybe open his mind –
I actually think Pope Francis would enjoy gay pride. It is a raucous celebration of Love. Pope Francis clearly believes in Love and enjoys the wildly enthusiastic crowds at his weekly audience. He may not approve of homosexuality but it is hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm of the celebration. I hope if he ever does go, I am there to cover it. Now, that wold be a news story.
Same sex marriage is not legal here either – and Australia being the conservative country that it is – I doubt very much whether we’ll be seeing it any time soon – unlike our cross the Tasman cousins in New Zealand who legalised it earlier this year.
Trisha, what’s the general attitude/feeling toward gay marriage in Rome/Italy? Is there sympathy or a general agreement that it should happen? I am very curious as being a Catholic country you would think tradition and Catholic values would firmly rule and the consensus would be against it. Would love your thoughts.
Hi Kathy — I am in my frazzled end-of-the-school year Mamma moment and my brain has stopped functioning properly. I am talking 90-miles-an-hour and swerve from one topic to the next and never manage to complete a thought or conversation. I just need to get through June and then I will slow down and think. So, that is a long way of saying that I cannot give you a decent answer to your question, but I do know someone who can and eventually I will find out. The person who does is a gay journalist named Claudio Rossi Martelli who moved to Geneva with his husband and has three children through an American surrogate mother. His book “Hello Daddy” has been wildly successful and I think they might even be making a movie about it. I will eventually ask him. But my impression is that Italy is still a very Catholic country and while on certain issues, like birth control, there are few people who pay attention to the Church’s teachings, on gay marriage I think many do. So, I don’t think gay marriage is likely to be legalized for a long time here. But you deserve a better answer and I will eventually get it for you. Hope you are surviving the end of the academic year down under!
I have been forced once by a journalist friend of mine in Berlin to get near to the Gay pride. (In Berlin it is a real big event.) I parked in the Tier Garten 300 mt away from the crowd and we started walking towards the mass of noisy participants. When we got 20 meters away from the crowd I told my friend: go and do your work, I really prefer to go home.
And so I did. I really did not like the atmosphere: nothing against such event. I feel they are free to do what they like I would only suggest more discretion and more reserve.
This may be politically incorrect but I think I should be free to say that
I do not like this kind of event.
I really cannot understand what the Vatican has to learn from such “events” Thank God we have not yet reached this stage! The “class” of both the last two Popes reassures me that this will not happen for a long, long time !
And about France it looks as if many French people do not like the last reforms. I think the majority does not agree with m. Hollande. But this is not my business.
Congratulations for your 2 last articles! As you see you have also “conservative” fans !
D.
Dario — thank you so much for your comment. I appreciate your honesty and I am thrilled to know that I also have “conservative” fans. It is interesting to learn that while I enjoy the Gay Pride as a big celebration, it made you feel uncomfortable and you thought the people were lacking in discretion. I am sure you are not the only person who feels that way. It is good for me and everyone to listen to all sides of a debate.
Some years ago as photography students my now husband and I wrote away for ‘Press Passes’ to the Gay mardi gras in Sydney. Never dreaming we’d get them they turned up and off we went camera’s in hand.
We had an amazing weekend and not only walked in the parade but also visited many of the workshops prior and spoke with the participants and families of many young people. A wonderful experience and a glorious celebration.
Just last week my niece who is gay announced her engagement to her long time partner, I send them all my love and support, they are just living life and celebrating love!
ciao lisa x
Hi Lisa, great to hear from you. There is lot to be said for the celebration of love without making judgments on other peoples’ choices.