Posted by Thomas Piccot on
The events took place in a gym in Aosta
“I’m not afraid to say that immediately after this attack I was shocked and cried, but the important thing for me is that I had the courage to respond. To respond to this person and share what happened with other people. Thus, in a long post on Instagram, Leonardo Sinopoli, performer from Aosta born in 1998, who reported on his social media channels a homophobic verbal assault of which he was the victim. The story was told by Gazette Matin in the June 5 issue.
The attack on the performer Leonardo Sinopoli
The events took place on Wednesday 31 May during a lunch break, in the Dinamix Gym in Aosta, a few steps from the historic centre. The protagonists of the story are the Rossoneri artist and another visitor to the structure, a man in his thirties. On the one hand, the thirty-year-old who – in colorful terms – claims he does not like the presence of homosexuals in the gym. On the other, Sinopolis that doesn’t fit and faces it. Words did not go to hands and the confrontation remained verbal, but the episode caused a stir on social media.
The witness
“The attack I suffered is not an isolated case. Claiming out loud in the locker room that you don’t want gay people in the gym because they bother you is not an opinion. Freedom of expression and expressing one’s opinion are things far from this – he writes Sinopolis on your Instagram page -. Just justify people, it’s not just about ignorance, it’s about violent people. I’m not afraid to say that I was shocked and cried right after this attack, but what matters to me is that I had the courage to respond. To respond to this person and share what happened with other people. Do you know what I discovered? To be surrounded by many beautiful people ready to support me.
Sinopoli: «I no longer allow anyone to treat me like this»
I’m no longer in high school when, after the umpteenth aggression I suffered, at the age of 16 I decided to change city and move from Aosta to Florence on my own; I literally ran away from my city carrying traumas that I finally managed to work on. Now I am 24 years old and I no longer allow anyone to treat me like this ».
Sinopoli: «It is not an isolated case»
Sinopolis has received several certificates of solidarity, primarily that of the managers of the gym. «My greatest fortune was discovering that I have a fantastic family and in this episode in particular I thank Queer VdA and the Dinamix Gym for intervening immediately – it continues -. This time I wasn’t afraid to respond to yet another violent episode and as mentioned, I know I have many people around me to count on. But as I said before, this is not an isolated case.
For Dinamix Gym, it was Mattia Cignetti, a gym instructor who was present when the events occurred. «We have heard the version of both and now we will evaluate what to do – he explains -. I would have preferred to be called immediately, so we would have solved the root problem. It was an unpleasant and annoying episode ».
Arcigay’s comment Valle d’Aosta Queer VdA
«Pride Month has just opened and we continue to receive reports of discrimination and aggression against LGBTQIA+ people in our region – writes Arcigay Valle d’Aosta Queer VdA in a post on social media commenting on the episode -. Leonardo, one of our members and a world-renowned artist, suffered a verbal assault, which almost resulted in a physical assault, in the gym he attends, as he himself told on his social channels. We sincerely thank the owner of the gym who intervened by taking measures against the violent man, but these situations recur every day, perhaps without even being aware of them ».
“Homotransphobia is here too”
Still. «Too many times the instrumental lie of the fact that here, in Valle d’Aosta, these problems do not exist, that we are immune from homobitransphobia is offered. There are simply no tools for collecting reports, because there is no crime or because those who are victims often do not find the strength to report”.
It forms
«As an Association, we want to say that we are here, that we will continue to fight so that all this is not normal, but becomes behavior considered intolerable and that cannot have the right to citizenship in an Italy where article 3 of the Constitution guarantees respect of individuality, in all its forms. And, above all, in a state where the institutions are either on the run or are accomplices, by law, to this fascist upsurge.
We have a Google form to collect reports of discrimination and aggression, which we need to be able to quantify the phenomenon, to be able to monitor it, to develop more and more awareness of what is happening. Find the Google form at this link and please fill it out every time you are the victim of homobitransaphobic episodes».
(Thomas Piccot)