Aart Heering
Contro natura c'è solo la pizza con l'ananas: Unnatural is only the pizza with pineapple. That was for me the most successful slogan of the Gay Pride Rome held last Saturday, the Roma Pride 2019.
It was a beautiful, both ironic and stern summary of the ideals of equality and equal rights that Pride stands for. The march was this year for the 25e held once and was certainly one of the most successful, with around 700.000 participants according to the organization.
Organizers sometimes tend to boost their own performances, but I've seen quite a few demonstrations in Rome and therefore think there were at least several hundred thousand.
The cart of the Dutch embassy
Standing on the Dutch 'kar' (a rented truck with trailer) I also had a good view of the crowd. The Dutch embassy participated this year with its own cart, including a DJ, music, inflatable dolls of two kissing Delft blue farmers and almost the entire staff.
Colleagues from the embassies of Germany, Great Britain and Canada also had their own cart. (The US has been out of the game since Trump.) It's a natural outgrowth of a foreign policy that includes the promotion of LGBT rights and makes it very visible in this way.
Commerce
A total of 25 carts took part, from gay and trans organizations, but also from the trade union CGIL, the trans-European party Volt, a student association and companies such as Mercedes-Benz, American Express, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, airline Vueling and the producer of fruit juices. Zuegg.
Google Maps had indicated the Pride race route in the colors of the rainbow flag for the occasion. And mineral water manufacturer VitaSnella handed out very welcome bottles in the same colors at 33 degrees in the shade.
I've heard some grumbling about the alleged 'commercialization' of Pride, but I don't see any harm in that myself. It is a clear sign of broad social integration and certainly in Italy, business often thinks more broadly than politics, in which the Vatican's role is far from finished.
rainbow family
For example, the current minister for the family, Lorenzo Fontana, argues that 'the rainbow family does not exist' and he has already reverted the designation 'Parent 1' and 'Parent 2' to 'father', entered a few years ago in the population register. and 'mother'.
Nevertheless, things are going well for the gay movement in Italy. In 2016, after twenty years of endless debate, the cohabitation contract for gay couples was finally passed through parliament and polls over the past two years show that a majority of the population is no longer against same-sex marriage.
Optimism
Apart from Fontana, there is therefore reason for optimism and that was reflected throughout Pride. The rainbow flag in itself guarantees a colorful spectacle, but the participants formed a colorful fauna of tough leather gays, more and less frail drag queens, youngsters of indeterminate sex, a fat forties dressed as Greta Thunberg, older ladies couples in union shirts and a remarkable number of young people, who today are more interested in social issues than party political issues.
Compared to previous Prides I experienced in Rome years ago, this time it was also less excessive, ie less bizarrely dressed up figures and less naked ass. The need to shock is therefore apparently less and that is also a good sign.
- - fasci, + froci: less fascists, more fags
- la mia liberta protegge la tua: my freedom protects yours (essentially the essence of the liberal creed)
- né stato ne dio, sul corpo mio: on my body no state and no god
- meglio erotico che nevrotico: better erotic than neurotic
- perché l'amore non è mai sbagliato: because love is never wrong
Gay Pride Rome on video
I have also seen some coarser texts, but out of delicacy I leave them for what they are. In short, it was a cheerful and energetic manifestation, as you can see in this video shot by fellow journalist Lidy Peters:
Tourist route
Organization and police had mapped out a nice tourist route: starting from Piazza della Repubblica, past the Stazione Termini, Via Cavour, Via Merulana, Via Labicana and then past the Colosseum over the Via dei Fori Imperiali to the Capitoline Hill.
But after more than two hours of hopping to loud music – of course a lot of Queen, Abba and Madonna, but also a single André Hazes – on a cart that stopped rather than drove because of the crowds, my energy was pretty much gone. Tired but satisfied, we therefore settled down in a nearby tavern, while the city remained cheerfully restless for a long time.
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