The clash over the law to combat homophobia is getting even harder and the path of mediation increasingly steep. The majority table on the Zan bill has been suspended. It will meet again at 3 pm. The League has asked for time to evaluate the mediation proposal of the rapporteur Andrea Ostellari, president of the Justice Commission. At 16.30 the session of the Senate room remains fixed to vote on the calendar of the works. «I want to exclude that in Renzi’s words an agreement with Salvini is hidden. I shudder at the idea that there is ». To say it is Alessandro Zan, from the microphones of The Breakfast Club on Radio Capital. «A law that protects against hate crimes – remarks the deputy Pd – cannot be exchanged for a power agreement. Renzi wants to be the protagonist of a mediation, but risks blowing up the law. The right, on the other hand, just wants to behead her ».
“Are you afraid that the law will not be approved?” In the meantime, let’s go to the Chamber, to the Justice Committee, and cross our fingers. Then we read the amendments of the parties. In the Democratic Party there are doubts and perplexities on some points, but – he underlines – we are compact. If Italia Viva votes together, there are numbers in the Senate ».
Today, in fact, in the Senate the old Giallorossi majority will vote together the scheduling of the Zan bill in the House for next week. Pd and M5S reject the Lega offensive, which finds the shore alive in Italy to seek a compromise.
Today’s will be an early vote. The vote in the hemicycle of Palazzo Madama should instead be from 13 July, and it remains to be seen which line-up will be created on the amendments of Italia viva, which could pass in whole or in part with the vote of the center-right and with the participation of former snipers. yellow and red. In fact, Renzi’s party will not vote with the League for other proposed changes, but it will certainly vote on its own amendments. And it is probable that the center-right will converge on those.
“I am a convinced supporter of the Zan Ddl, as I am convinced that it is essential that a law against homotransphobia be approved, to make children and still a supporter the many who have suffered acts of discrimination and violence”. So the Undersecretary of the Interior Ivan Scalfarotto, of Italia Viva, speaking on the microphones of Radio 24. “The point is that we will go to a classroom where the numbers are very small, where there will be millions of amendments presented by Calderoli, where Then I wonder – he continues – if it makes sense to meet the beautiful death for a just cause with a good text law like that Zane because we heroically offered the vote to enemy fire, or approve of losing a life that does not change the substance of the law by preserving obstruction and titles and take it home “.
The leader of the League Matteo Salvini, a Radio Me too on Rai Radio1, on the hypothesis that the ddl Zan arrives in the courtroom without mediation between the parties, he said: «Let them, Pd and Cinque Stelle, take the responsibility of burying the issue. We have accepted the appeal of the Holy Father and I hope that the Pd and M5S will also do it responsibly to immediately approve a law that severely punishes discrimination, removing the 2/3 articles that are critical ».
From the Democratic Party comes an appeal to Renzi’s party. “I don’t understand Iv’s position,” he said yesterday the secretary Enrico Letta a On air on La 7 – who did an important work of merit in the Chamber, and together with Pd, Leu and M5s voted the law in the Chamber and suddenly changed his mind ». «This text – he observed – passes exclusively with the votes of those who approved it in the Chamber, Lega and Fdi do not want it. That majority has to take charge of the law. Renzi shields himself behind the secret vote, we will not ask for it ». “All those who voted for it in the House, those themselves vote for it in the Senate, what’s the problem?”
“I expected an outcry from the League and not from the Democratic Party – he said this morning to Omnibus the president of the senators of Iv Davide Faraone – on our mediation proposal which is to return to the Scalfarotto text: between Zan and Pillon there is a middle ground and we have worked on that. Letta tries to throw smoke in the eyes but fails: it is not news that there is no request for a secret vote from the Democratic Party but the secretary dem knows very well that 20 senators are enough. We will vote on the scheduling of the bill in the classroom as we have always said and we will never fail to vote in favor of the law against homotransphobic discrimination: if today, however, there was an agreement there could be a political agreement to secure the text in the Chamber. It is clear that neither IV nor the Democratic Party will ask for the secret vote but someone will do it and then if the measure is sunk in the courtroom, we will all have failed because we will have left many people without protection ».
Monica Cirinnà points the finger at the League. “Faced with President Ostellari’s attempt to completely deprive trans people of protection by eliminating the expression ‘gender identity’, I hope that all the forces that voted for the Zan bill in the House will square around the text. Finally the League has thrown the mask and it is understood that they do not want this law by doing everything to bury it. Those who lend themselves to this game in shambles, on people’s skin, will be responsible for it, ”says the senator responsible for the Rights of the Democratic Party.
Ddl Zan, what it is and what it provides
The Zan bill was created with the aim of combating homophobia and transphobia. The text was approved on November 4, 2020 with 265 votes in favor of Pd, M5s, Leu, Italia viva and five deputies of Forza Italia. It is linked to the Mancino law which contrasts racist crimes and provides for a prison term of one to four years for those who instigate homophobic violence, by intervening on article 604 bis of the criminal code. There is also a non-repressive part which aims to spread a culture of tolerance. In particular, an Italian date is established, May 17, as “National day against homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia and transphobia”.
What the Zan law provides article by article
In article 1 of the Zan law against homotransphobia and misogyny it is established in the premise that: by “sex” we mean biological or personal sex; by “gender” we mean any outward manifestation of a person that conforms or conflicts with social expectations related to sex; “sexual orientation” means sexual or emotional attraction towards people of the opposite sex, of the same sex, or of both sexes; by “gender identity” we mean the perceived and manifested identification of oneself in relation to gender, even if not corresponding to gender, regardless of having completed a transition path.
Article 2 of the law amends article 604 bis of the penal code on propaganda crimes and incitement to crime for reasons of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination.
Article 604 bis states: “Any organization, association, movement or group whose purpose is to incite discrimination or violence for racial, ethnic, national or religious reasons is prohibited”. “Or based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability”.
Article 3 makes an identical amendment to article 604 ter of the Criminal Code, integrating the aggravating circumstance of discrimination with reasons based on sex, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity or disability.
Article 4 is the so-called safeguard clause. The bill specifies: “The free expression of beliefs or opinions as well as legitimate conduct attributable to the pluralism of ideas or the freedom of choices are reserved, provided that they are not suitable to determine the concrete danger of carrying out discriminatory or violent acts”.
Article 5 aligns other laws to the same case. It also provides for the conditional suspension of the sentence which can be subordinated, if the offender does not object, to the performance of an unpaid activity in favor of the community.
Article 6 modifies article 90-quater of the criminal procedure code on the particularly vulnerable condition of the offended person: the assessment will also take into account crimes committed on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity.
Article 7 establishes the National Day against Homotransphobia on May 17.
Article 8 establishes rules and interventions for the prevention and contrast of discrimination through a three-year national strategy.
Article 9 it concerns centers against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Article 10 introduces statistical surveys on gender discrimination.