Virginia House Democrats Advance First Pro-LGBTQ+ Bill of 2024
On Tuesday, the Education K-12 Subcommittee of the Virginia House of Delegates approved HB 224 on a 7-1 vote, advancing the bill to the house floor. The bill was introduced by chief patron Delegate Rozia A Henson, Jr. (D-Woodbridge), the first openly gay Black man to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly, who assumed office just two weeks ago after his 2023 election. The bill, titled “Public Schools; Mental Health Awareness Training and Instruction,” has seven additional patrons, all Democrats.
The bill would require every school board in Virginia to adopt and implement policies requiring school faculty to complete at least one mental health awareness training. The training program must address the needs of high-risk population, including those bereaved by suicide, those with mental or chronic health conditions including substance use disorders, those experiencing homelessness or housing instability, those in foster care or other unstable living situations, and those who identify as LGBTQ+. The bill would also require each school board to provide personnel with the required training.
What’s going on With Italy’s New “Neo-Fascist” Regime?
In 2016, Italy legalized same-sex civil unions, but fell short of allowing same-sex couples to marry — or adopt. Due to strong influence from the Catholic Church, with Vatican City within the country’s borders, Italy does not allow adoption for step-parents, surrogacy is illegal, and medically assisted reproduction such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) is limited to heterosexual couples.
In September 2022, Giorgia Meloni won the election for Prime Minister of Italy, with just 26 percent of the vote. A Member of the “Brothers of Italy” party — a right-wing populist party some have described as neo-fascist, which she co-founded — Meloni’s anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments were a major part of her campaign platform, and continue to be a priority of her administration.
“Yes to the natural family, no to LGBT lobbies!” Meloni said while campaigning for a conservative ally in Spain in July 2022. “Yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology!”
Despite the lack of adoption rights, surrogacy, IVF or other family planning options for LGBTQ+ Italians, many cities decided to implement birth certificates that allow for recognition of two parents — including same-sex couples — allowing LGBTQ+ couples who pursued adoption, surrogacy or IVF in more accepting countries to legally establish joint custody of their children.
In March of last year, the Meloni administration ordered those cities to end the practice, sparking large protests in cities like Milan — where Mayor Guiseppe Sala had previously decided to allow same-sex couples to be registered as parents to their children. Sala called the administration’s order “a clear step backwards, politically and socially,” though the City did ultimately stop recognizing same-sex couples on birth certificates.
Last summer, the Italian government went a step further and began notifying same-sex couples that one of them would be stripped from their children’s birth certificates, removing their legal rights as parents.
Several same-sex couples have fled Italy as a result over the past year.
Two Italian Parents Sentenced to Prison for Abuse of Gay Son
On Wednesday Italian news outlet La Stampa reported that a father and mother have been sentenced to two years and one year four months in prison, respectively, for “dozens of episodes of mistreatment” against their 14 year old son, for which they were indicted in October 2023.
Their son, who is now 17, has received compensation from his parents, and is living apart from the family with assistance from his lawyer. In six months he will be 18 years old.
The family members were not identified in the article, however details on the abuse were. Upon reading his diary (without permission), the boy’s father began implementing prohibitions and punishments to “correct” his son’s homosexuality. The boy was forced to do military runs at night, expose his genitals, and read his diary aloud. Unsuccessful in changing his sexuality, the father eventually sought help from a psychologist — but the psychologist “refused to take charge of the boy and explained to his parents that homosexuality is not a disease.”
In January of 2021, the father gave the boy one month to prove he’d had intercourse with a girl, which prompted the boy to seek help from a school psychologist, who ultimately alerted the authorities.
The couple’s sentences were delivered on January 23, with judge Antonio Borretta agreeing with prosecutor Giulia Rizzo that the couple should be granted a suspended sentence — under “the condition that for one year they undertake a psychological and restorative path at an accredited institution.” The father was sentenced to two years (suspended) of prison time for the abuse, while the mother was sentenced to one year and four months for allowing the abuse to continue.
