ΙΤΑΛΙΑ. Η ΟΜΟΦΥΛΟΦΟΒΙΑ ΜΕ ΝΟΥΜΕΡΑ

Το 43% των ομοφυλόφιλων μαθητών στα ιταλικά σχολεία έχει πέσει θύμα διακρίσεων λόγω της σεξουαλικής τους ταυτότητας, αναφέρει έρευνα της οργάνωσης υπέρ των δικαιωμάτων των ομοφυλόφιλων και για την καταγγελία της καταστρατήγησής τους Gay Center.
Ένα 37% των ομοφυλόφιλων κοριτσιών έχει υποστεί διακρίσεις και πιέσεις στον οικογενειακό του χώρο, σύμφωνα με την έρευνα. Το 33% όσων ερωτήθηκαν είπε ότι δέχθηκε φραστικές ή άλλου είδους επιθέσεις σε καφέ μπαρ και μαγαζιά όπου είχε μεταβεί για να πιει ένα ποτό με φίλους.

The discriminatory environment most frequently mentioned by participants (49 percent) interviewed were schools, followed by family (42 percent), bars and clubs (33 percent) and media and Internet (30 percent.) Interestingly, while 43 percent of the gay men surveyed cited school as the most common place they encountered discrimination, a greater number of lesbian women (37 percent) said they were more likely to encounter homophobia in their family. But as a whole, gay and bisexual men as well as transgender people cited more instances of discrimination than lesbian or bisexual women. Furthermore, students seemed acutely aware of the difficulties encountered by LGBT people: 55 percent of students interviewed believe that gay and lesbians are discriminated against in Italy.

As for the portion of the study which focused on stereotypes, 40 percent of the students interviewed believe that gay men have certain characteristics that distinguish them from the rest of society, compared to just 22 percent for lesbian women. Regarding gay men, students mostly identified effeminate manners (32.4 percent) and characteristics tied to appearance (clothing style, amount of attention given to appearance and voice). Instead, LGBT individuals referred to more negative stereotypes, aside from the effeminate demeanor, that tied more to their character (promiscuity, disease, passivity.) Meanwhile, when it came to women, a presumed “masculinity” is cited by both students and those belonging to the LGBT community.

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Fabrizio Marrazzo, spokesman for the Rome Gay Center, said that about 20,000 Italian youth reach out to the center each year for help.

"This number is a phenomenon and very upsetting," said Marrazzo. "On average only one in ten incidents of homophobia gets reported to Italian police for fear that reporting the incident leads to further discrimination."

Marrazzo also added that it's not just the students who are homophobic.

"Teachers are also the bullies many times and often go unpunished," he said.