Pride: When Activism Becomes Law

On 28 June 1970, Christopher Street Liberation Day – known as the world's first Pride March – was held in celebration of the previous year's Stonewall riots. From that day on, the role of activism in recognizing the rights of the LGBTQI+ community has grown tremendously, contributing not only to a cultural shift but also to increased legislation on the part of individual governments – taking on an important role at the international level. Political philosopher Giunia Gatta and legal scholar Graziella Romeo discuss the topic in this double video interview.

If we look even further back, "the first pride activist was John Stuart Mill," explains Gatta, Bocconi Adjunct Professor who teaches Human Rights. "In nineteenth-century England, Mill suggested that freedom is achieved by allowing everyone to be open to new ways of being, which others can follow confidently over time, provided they do not harm others."
From then on, "the progressive legal recognition of LGBTQI+ rights has benefited from activism translated into countless lawsuits initiated by the community to make its claims visible and challenge the law in its own terms," says Romeo, Bocconi Associate Professor who teaches courses on Fundamental Rights in Europe, Gender Law and Women's Rights. "I am convinced," continues Romeo, "that the progress of LGBTQI+ people has so far depended on the interaction among lawmakers, courts, and civil society in some contexts (the United States), and mainly on progressive forces in many others (Southern Europe)."

Activism, as the two professors explain, plays a fundamental role not only at the local level but – above all – at the international level because, "countries that pass laws on issues such as hate speech, gay marriage or surrogacy serve as models for others and help to literally normalize these processes," underlines Gatta. "International activism," adds Romeo, "is legally relevant in a dual perspective because it favors the circulation of legal arguments that are then used in cases initiated in international settings, typically the European Court of Human Rights. It also helps shed light on legislative or judicial changes taking place in less academically explored countries such as Uganda."

Today, much of LGBTQI+ activism focuses on recognizing the rights of the family. "In the wake of queer movements," says Gatta, "a broader notion of the family is emerging, going beyond the nuclear one, idealized by some and considered natural and normal even though it has not been – and still is not – in many parts of the world. Some trace this social model back to the Middle Ages in England, but definitely not in southern Europe. We certainly have seen it consistently in the developed world starting from the nineteenth century and especially during the twentieth century, after World War II and until the seventies."

However, Gatta believes "that today the most interesting types are not only attempts to reproduce the nuclear family with same-sex parents, but also the imagination of new social models in which people support and protect each other." Looking at Italy, explains Romeo, "some legal cases have opened the debate for the recognition of different family models, but Parliament does not seem inclined to take any steps in this direction. In other European countries, including France and Spain, non-traditional families are more easily represented and protected."