ABOVE: Lady Gaga promoting “House of Gucci.” Photo via the film’s Facebook page.
In an appearance on an Italian talk show, Lady Gaga voiced support for the LGBTQ community in Italy after a hate crime law was struck down in October.
“I wanted to tell the LGBTQ+ community here in Italy that you are the bravest, the kindest, the most generous,” she said during an interview on Che Tempo Che Fa. “You must be protected at all costs, like all human beings here on Earth, and I will continue to write music for you and fight for you.”
The bill — referred to as the Zan bill, named after Alessandro Zan, a Democratic lawmaker and LGBTQ+ activist who introduced the legislation — would have banned sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability discrimination by amending Italy’s penal code.
It passed the lower house in the Italian parliament in 2020, but disapproval from far-right groups and Catholics contributed to the bill stalling in the Senate.
Over the summer, the Vatican protested the Zan bill, sending a diplomatic note that claimed the anti-homophobia bill “reduce[s] the freedom granted to the Catholic Church.”
Senior Italian lawmakers pushed back against the “interference” from the Vatican.
“All concerns must be heard and all doubts dispelled, but there can be no foreign interference in the prerogatives of a sovereign parliament,” Zan tweeted following the Vatican’s protest, per CNN.
Months later, the Senate voted 154-131 in a secret ballot to stop debate on the legislation.
Zan responded to Lady Gaga’s comments on the show by tweeting: “Yes, Lady Gaga, the Italian LGBTQ+ community is strong and courageous. More than a society still steeped in hatred, more than senators hiding behind a secret vote. We will not give up until this battle is won. Thanks for your support.”
https://twitter.com/ZanAlessandro/status/1459983324617785350
Lady Gaga, who is bisexual, is promoting her new movie “House of Gucci,” which was shot in Italy. The film is set to be released later this month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHkXd_1cvVg
