Under the fleeting light of an autumn half-moon, an Italian medical student made his way to the top of a modern high-rise in east Rome, not far from an ancient arch built by the emperor Claudius.
From the 11th floor of the apartment block, which once housed a pasta factory, the 21-year-old could probably just discern the darkened outline of the Colosseum about a mile away. It may have been the last thing he saw.
"I'm gay," the student, identified only as Simone D., said in a note discovered after he jumped to his death. "Italy is a free country. But there are homophobes, and those like that must search their consciences."
His suicide in the early hours of Oct. 27 brought sorrow to this city, but also a tragic sense of familiarity. It was at least the third death in Rome within 12 months of a young person who had decided to end his life out of despair over being gay or over the harassment he had endured. Two months earlier, a 14-year-old boy leaped from his balcony; before that, a 15-year-old hanged himself.
For many Italians, the deaths have served as a reminder of a sorry fact: Theirs is the only major nation in Western Europe to offer virtually no rights or protections to homosexuals. From a legal standpoint in Italy, gays and lesbians essentially do not exist.
Where other countries outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, for example, Italy has no such ban (though European Union directives mitigate that lack slightly). At least 10 nations in Europe, including France and Spain, allow same-sex couples to marry; Italy, with a population of 61 million, makes zero provision nationally for such relationships, not even a weaker form of civil union or domestic partnership.
Read more: For gays in Italy, rights and acceptance are still elusive - latimes.com
From the 11th floor of the apartment block, which once housed a pasta factory, the 21-year-old could probably just discern the darkened outline of the Colosseum about a mile away. It may have been the last thing he saw.
"I'm gay," the student, identified only as Simone D., said in a note discovered after he jumped to his death. "Italy is a free country. But there are homophobes, and those like that must search their consciences."
His suicide in the early hours of Oct. 27 brought sorrow to this city, but also a tragic sense of familiarity. It was at least the third death in Rome within 12 months of a young person who had decided to end his life out of despair over being gay or over the harassment he had endured. Two months earlier, a 14-year-old boy leaped from his balcony; before that, a 15-year-old hanged himself.
For many Italians, the deaths have served as a reminder of a sorry fact: Theirs is the only major nation in Western Europe to offer virtually no rights or protections to homosexuals. From a legal standpoint in Italy, gays and lesbians essentially do not exist.
Where other countries outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, for example, Italy has no such ban (though European Union directives mitigate that lack slightly). At least 10 nations in Europe, including France and Spain, allow same-sex couples to marry; Italy, with a population of 61 million, makes zero provision nationally for such relationships, not even a weaker form of civil union or domestic partnership.
Read more: For gays in Italy, rights and acceptance are still elusive - latimes.com
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