Rome Mayor attends 20th Roma Pride Parade

Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino (on left, wearing tricolour sash) at Roma Pride 2014

Roma Pride celebrated its twentieth anniversary in grand style yesterday with a huge turn out – 200,000 of us marched in the blazing sunshine from Piazza della Repubblica to Via dei Fori Imperiali – and with none other than Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino at the head of the parade. Whilst the presence of the first citizen might be considered normal in any other European capital, in Rome this was only the second time a Rome mayor had attended Pride since Francesco Rutelli appeared at the inaugural edition in 1994. Marching behind the slogan “Adesso fuori i diritti” (Now give us our rights), Marino reconfirmed his election campaign promise to create a local register of civil unions for same-sex couples in the city and expressed his full support for LGBT rights.