Italian Legislator Introduces Bill to Protect Parents' Constitutional Rights Against "Gender Ideology"

Hilary White : Apr 11, 2014
LifeSiteNews.com

"The school is particularly targeted by these insane ideologies… the result of the demolition of the father figure that comes from the 70's and are [subsequently moving politics into the realm of totalitarian Darwinian 'biologism']. Everyone is afraid to fight back, even if only to say that the father is a man and a woman is the mother. [In fact, to do so] has become an act of courage. -Stefano Zecchi, professor of philosophy, University of Milan

(Rome, Italy)—Italian Deputies Eugenia Roccella and Alessandro Pagano have introduced a bill in Parliament that would establish the rights of parents to make decisions about their children's education, particularly on moral issues. (Photo via LSN)

The move comes in response to increasing concerns by some deputies, parent groups, and civil rights organizations that the government is being co-opted by organized activists to push the so-called "gender ideology" in schools and other Italian institutions.

The purpose of the bill, Roccella said at a press conference, is to "reaffirm and ensure the fundamental right to educational choice of parents, as set out, inter alia, in the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child."

Which means in practice, she said, that in all school activities that "relate directly or indirectly to the issues related to relationships, affectivity and sexuality education, and other ethically sensitive issues in general, the parents are informed, who must give their consent in writing to each student."

The schools must also provide alternative activities for those who choose not to take advantage of extra-curricular activities, "without giving rise to any form of discrimination."

Roccella is a former feminist activist and past state (of) secretary for health who has long been a champion of life and family causes in Italy's Parliament, most recently against the proposed "anti-homophobia" law. She is a deputy with the newly-formed Nuovo Centro Destra party (NCD, "New Centre-Right").

Recently, she and a group of deputies and others have grown increasingly concerned over the sudden incursions of the homosexualist movement's ideologies into government institutions, particularly through the Ufficio Nazionale Anti Discriminazioni, (UNAR, National Anti-Discrimination Bureau) a body set up by the government to ensure "equality of treatment and the removal of discrimination based on race and ethnic origin."

Roccella took a leading role in a group of deputies that stopped the UNAR from distributing pro-homosexual school pamphlets, though some city-based initiatives have moved forward in Milan, Turin, Venice and Florence at the behest of local homosexualist organizations.

She explained that the bill is in response to actions taken by the UNAR. Although UNAR's written prerogatives say that it must act "in full independence of judgment and condition of impartiality," it has effectively become the strong arm of the gender ideology movement in government, using the law to enforce conformity to a new and alien set of ethics.

Roccella explained in an interview with the website Papaboys 3.0, that the UNAR has been co-opted by gender ideologues to press their aims onto Italian society with the force of law. The UNAR accomplishes this with a "working group made up of 29 homosexual associations," with no other groups represented to "ensure diversity of opinion and judgment criteria."

"In this way," Roccella said, "the UNAR began working independently, to launch the dissemination of brochures such as the 'Educating for diversity in school,' which was brought to children without any permission, either from the Ministry of Education, or from the Ministry of Social Policy and completely excluding parents of students."