Roma Pride 2012: We want it all!

Roma Pride 2012

After last year's Euro Pride event in Rome, which saw a million participants marching through the capital and the presence of Lady Gaga on stage, yesterday's annual Gay Pride parade in Rome was an admittedly smaller affair. Considering how poorly publicised Roma Pride 2012 was, however, with barely a mention in the lead up to the parade on local TV news channels, yesterday's event should be considered a resounding success, with an estimated 150,000 people singing and dancing in the torrid heat from Piazza della Repubblica to Piazza Bocca della Verità, taking in tourist hotspots Via dei Fori Imperiali and the Colosseum on route.

“Vogliamo tutto” (We want it all) was the simple slogan of Roma Pride 2012 – we want the same rights as heterosexual couples and the right to marry – with a clear message to Italy's politicians that if they want the votes of the gay community they need to start listening to our demands. Italy, meanwhile, doggedly remains one of the few EU Member States which refuses to recognise civil partnerships for same-sex couples. There is also no law against homophobia in Italy, and after a new spate of vicious homophobic attacks in the city the need for tough new laws to combat homophobia can no longer be ignored. With only one political party - Italia dei Valori – participating yesterday, however, with Beppe Grillo's increasingly popular MoVimento 5 Stelle conspicuous by its absence, the road ahead for gay rights in Italy looks still to be a long one.