One in three cases of coming out is met with violence in the family

In Italy, coming out can cause isolation in the workplace for one in three people, according to the ISTAT survey on employment discrimination against LGBT+ people conducted in 2023. But it doesn't get any better in the family: in this case coming out resulted in a violent response from relatives in 32.3% of the total number of cases followed up on the Gay Help Line. 27% of the victims are minors aged between 11 and 18. Family violence against minors has a high frequency (26.7% of post-coming out cases) and is worrying for its forms and consequences: rejection by parents triggers an escalation that includes insults, psychological pressure and blackmail acted out through the request to 'convert' if one does not want to be kicked out of home.

Yet, going back to the Istat report, the family is the sphere that plays an important role in supporting those who face a path of awareness, which finds in coming out one of the final stages of self-affirmation. And it is often precisely parents who consider themselves unprepared to accept their children's story. Since 1993, Agedo, an association of parents, relatives, friends and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* people, has stood by parents who need to share their experience, becoming over the years a point of reference throughout the country with 37 offices. "I know you as well as you know yourself. Parents fear that their Lgbtq+ children may live on the fringes of society and their prejudices are often fuelled by the political polarisation that makes this issue divisive," observes Donatella Siringo, national president of Agedo, who adds: "Today we are at the heart of the attack on the rights of our boys and girls: there is in fact no 'gender theory', there is however the freedom of those who, by telling us about themselves, give us an act of faith. Since 2015, Agedo has welcomed an increasing number of parents of transgender and non-binary young people, with the number of under-16s joining up to 40 per cent in 2023. At the same time, the association's work also takes place in schools to provide training. "We try to spread information in households. Think for example of those who are going through gender affirmation and do not know how to access useful services. There are no homogeneous guidelines on the national territory: Agedo therefore acts as a support on all fronts, from the emotional, psychological and health aspects. Our aim is to create culture on the issue,' President Siringo concludes, 'in schools it is important to affirm the 'career alias' in order to acknowledge the right of transgender people to be recognised with the identity they feel is their own, preventing bullying phenomena from leading them to drop out of school'.