Yahoo – AFP,
19 March 2015
Rome (AFP) - Italy's most prominent gay politician has announced he wants to marry his Canadian partner: a step the couple will have to take in Canada as Italy does not allow same-sex marriages.
Nicola Vendola on February 18, 2014 at the Montecitorio Palace, the Italian Chamber of Deputies in Rome (AFP Photo/Andreas Solaro) |
Rome (AFP) - Italy's most prominent gay politician has announced he wants to marry his Canadian partner: a step the couple will have to take in Canada as Italy does not allow same-sex marriages.
Nicola
Vendola, the left-wing president of the southern region of Puglia, reaches the
end of his second five-year term of office in May.
"Everything
is going to change, I'm going to marry Ed," Vendola said in a reference to
his partner Eddy Testa, with whom he is considering starting a family.
The
nuptials may take place in Canada but there is no plan to relocate there.
"For a man of the south like me, it is too cold," he said.
Vendola,
56, was one of the first openly gay lawmakers in Italy when he entered
parliament in 1992.
His
election to the leadership of Puglia was regarded as a major surprise given
southern Italy's reputation as a bastion of macho and socially conservative
values.
Vendola is
a founder member of Italian gay rights group Arcigay and the leader of the Left
Ecology Freedom party.
Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi has promised to enact legislation allowing gay civil
partnerships but there are no plans to authorise gay marriage, which is
strongly opposed by the Catholic church.
Vendola, a
published poet and author, said he was thinking seriously about having
children, and distanced himself from compatriot Domenico Dolce, the gay
designer who caused a storm by describing IVF babies as "synthetic".
Dolce's
right to defend traditional family arrangements has been defended by his
business partner Stefano Gabbana as reflecting his southern heritage.
Vendola
rubbished that view, backing Elton John's opinion that the designers were out
of touch with the modern world.
"From
their elevated social rung they don’t really understand what it means to live
in a country where homophobia kills and the lack of basic rights weighs heavily
on many people's lives," Vendola said.
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