Borgosesia, Italy – The mayor of this Northern Italian town of 13,000 would have his hands full dealing with high rate of unemployment affecting his town much like others throughout this Southern European nation. You would think that, but it’s not true. What the mayor is focused on instead is gay and lesbian kissing.
The “morally harmful” behavior, as he describes it, will be fined up to 500 euros (~$680 USD). Gianluca Buonanno, the mayor in question, admits he personally does not like the behavior and believes it will harm children, but bigotry aside, he has no proof that children are harmed by the people of the same sex kissing.
Daniele Viotti, a member of the EU parliament, openly questioned Buonanno’s motives with the oft cited closet-homo argument. While that has certainly played a role with some people’s anti-gay stances, the retort is an ad hominem and as such constitutes a weak argument.
However, Viotti did make the salient point that the mayor will be inflaming anti-gay bigotry which is unhelpful. Thus far, the heavily Catholic nation has yet to formally recognize same-sex marriages despite that the fact that a majority of Italians support the measure. As for the kissing ban for gays and lesbians, the measure will be reviewed by the Italian Supreme Court this fall.
It is astounding that with so many issues of profound importance facing this G-7 nation, the high court would have to devote time from its docket to judge the legality of people of the same sex kissing one another.