A journey to discover how the discourse on queerness is seen and treated.
By Francesco Fiori
Even today, in 2021, there are nations that do not allow homosexuality, and therefore do not include within their framework of human rights.
There are many countries where queer people do not feel safe. While some of these countries do accept the fact that gay people exist, no laws exist to protect them in case of discrimination or homophobic attacks.
Sometimes, these attacks can be inflicted directly by the family itself.
Homophobic “hate incidents”
In the United Kingdom, like many other countries in Europe, there are laws that allow same-sex marriage, and one that does not forbid gay people from adopting children. But what distinguishes the United Kingdom from many other countries is that in the UK, a homophobia “hate incident” is recognized as a crime.
Just like the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal have laws that support, protect and recognise the basic equality that should exist for every human being. Unfortunately this does not happen everywhere in Europe.
Italy, for example, officially accepts same-sex marriage, but in reality this is not entirely true. Two people of the same sex can marry yes, but in the end the only thing that is recognized is the celebration and registration of the couple. They do not have the same legal right that a married man and woman would have.
There is also no law in Italy that protects the LGBTQIA+ community from homophobic attacks, still a distinction is made as if homosexuals fall into a special – read lower – category.
In recent months, in a town in the province of Florence, a girl was thrown out of her home with death threats from her family for telling them she had a girlfriend.
The 22-year-old, known only as Malika, said her mother told her that she was happy to have “normal children”, while they had had the misfortune of having had a Lesbian daughter.
“Better to see you dead than Lesbian,” said the mother.
Death threats
Malika said her brother tried to figure out where she lived to kill her, as being a Lesbian had dishonored her family.
“Unfortunately, cases like Malika’s are not isolated or new. Sometimes it happens due to more ignorance from their parents, homophobic political extremisms or religious extremisms,” said Jamie Sanna, 33, Student Union’s LGBTQAI+ Officer and volunteer at Spectrum Association.
“The solution is certainly not forcing parents to reopen their doors, it would lead to the risk of domestic abuse and violence,” he said. Malika said she turned to the police for help but was ignored.
Such incidents happen even in the UK, Jamie said.
“London, sadly, is not exempt from homophobia. But the prevalent is transphobia. There is still a lot of internalized transphobia, TERF groups (inside and outside the LGBQ + community) who want to create a distinction between cisgender and transgender women by seeing the latter as a ‘half woman’,” he said.
Transphobia is another issue
“The situation with transphobia in UK is a big issue. I am honest, I never received transphobia abuse, maybe sometimes at the supermarket someone that look at me like I have something weird on top, but nothing that harasses me,” said Melany Heyes, 42, TfL employee.
“Unfortunately, some friends of mine have not been that lucky. Some of them have been beaten up just because the guys they were flirting with found out they were men before.
“I feel disgusted for such behaviour, especially in a city like London that is supposed to be more open.”
- If you are the victim of a homophobic or transphobic hate incident, report it to police. The Citizen’s Advice Bureau defines such incidents as taking many forms, including:
- verbal and physical abuse
- physical violence
- teasing
- bullying
- threatening behaviour
- online abuse
- damage to property.
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