Lawmakers in Italy's Chamber of Deputies expressed their support
for a proposed gay rights bill by staging a kiss-in.
According to The
Local, Dozens of members of Italy's M5S Party (Movimento 5
Stelle, or Five Star Movement) stopped discussing the bill on
Friday, stood up and the began kissing members of the same sex. Some
lawmakers held up signs of support calling for “more rights” for
LGBT Italians. Others just hugged.
The bill would extend a 1993 anti-discrimination law to include
crimes motivated by a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Equal rights and dignity without gender,” MP Federica Daga
tweeted, along with a photo of the kiss-in protest. “Because a
kiss and a hug are not scary.”
La Repubblica reported that the bill cleared the lower
house with a 354-79 vote. But the measure is expected to face strong
opposition in the Senate, particularly from Silvio Berlusconi's
People of Freedom Party. (Video from the kiss-in protest is embedded
on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)