ROME – To have a good time the Pleasure of RomeNaked-chested males with pink angel wings danced to Abba songs, ladies wrapped in rainbow flags kissed, and glittering drag queens waved from parade floats.
After which there was the Pope Francisco.
The Pope’s picture was in every single place.
On cardboard figures adorned with flower garlands, on colourful banners, on stickers.
Insult and banner
Romans dressed as Francis took half within the Pleasure parade on Saturday, carrying papal hats and T-shirts that learn:
“There may be by no means an excessive amount of Subscribe to“, alluding to an offensive insult towards homosexual males that the Pope has been accused of twice in current weeks.
The insult “is the motto of Pleasure 2024,” mentioned Martina Lorina, 28, an actress holding a banner with the phrase.
After Italian media reported that Francis used the insult at a gathering with monks to complain about an excessive amount of “homosexuality” within the church, the Vatican apologized.
However the individuals of Rome Pleasure reacted otherwise to the insult: they made it their very own.
The Pleasure individuals symbolically invited the Pope and his insult to the occasion, utilizing an outdated neighborhood tactic LGBTQ+ Flip insults into phrases of pleasure.
Individuals passing by the Colosseum through the Pleasure parade in Rome on Saturday. Photograph Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse, by way of Related Press“Let’s let him really feel how lovely homosexuality is,” shouted one participant within the crowd, whereas males dressed as unicorns sang a music about it Britney Spears and the youngsters held the fingers of their two moms, their faces coated with vibrant rainbows.
Daniele Lacitignola, 34, a Christian and homosexual, carried a cardboard cutout of Francis.
He mentioned that whereas the Pope's current alternative of phrases would possibly point out that “homosexuals usually are not welcome within the Church, he’s at all times welcome at Pleasure.”
“FranceYou might be welcome in our neighborhood,” learn one banner.
“Let me pose together with your holiness,” mentioned Alessio Sposato, 31, carrying a tank prime and cowboy hat, as he took a photograph with a cardboard cutout of Francis.
Emiliano Sisolfi, the 22-year-old director, carried a banner with a photograph of Francisco with a thumbs up and one other use of the insult.
Sisolfi mentioned he printed the insult in rainbow letters to neutralize it.
“If I snort on the phrase,” he mentioned, “they are going to don’t have any phrases left to insult us.”
Giacomo Canarezza, 31, mentioned that even when the insult was derogatory, “if I applicable the phrase, I can use it as an indication of my identification.”
“It makes you resistant to any insult.”
march
On banners through the parade, the insult was related to an expression of pleasure and pleasure.
A Pleasure participant with a vibrant pink beard wore a papal hat as he danced to “Greased Lightnin'” on a parade float, and others handed out stickers with doctored photographs of Francis carrying one furry pink bufanda or sun shades roses.
However behind the jokes and fanfare, some Romans have expressed concern that the Pope’s phrases might additional marginalize the LGBTQ+ neighborhood in a rustic the place Hungary, The Czech Republic and a handful of others are among the many solely Europeans who haven’t legalized homosexual marriage.
Final yr, the right-wing authorities was prime minister Giorgia Meloni ordered Italian mayors to adjust to a courtroom ruling and cease authenticating international delivery certificates of kids born overseas to same-sex Italian via surrogacy unlawful in Italy.
“Many in Italy take heed to the Pope and the Church, and this could hurt households with gay kids,” mentioned Basilio Petruzza, 33.
A 20-year-old artist who calls herself Dolly Deville mentioned she ordered a papal gown on-line a number of days in the past to put on at Pleasure.
Holding a banner with a hand-drawn portrait of Francis, he mentioned the pope's phrases had brought on him ache.
“She shouldn’t have dared to say that phrase,” mentioned her buddy Edoardo Camillucci.
“Particularly as a heterosexual, holy man.”
ca. 2024 The New York Occasions Firm