Abstract
The focus group held in Bologna on 2 October 2005 revolved around the relationships between ‘body’, ‘sexuality’ and ‘precarity’, which are concepts at the heart of the reflections and political agenda of the feminist and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (GLBTQ) movements in Italy.
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Notes
Recently in Italy, a huge number of bills have been presented to Parliament by members of the Democratic Left party and the Communist Refoundation party for the recognition of de facto couples, both heterosexual and homosexual. The public debate on this issue is commonly known in Italy as the ‘debate on PACS’ (Patti civili di solidarietà/Civil Partnership Agreements), echoing the legal formula adopted in France.
2 TRA (or PMA) is an acronym for the Italian ‘Tecniche di Riproduzione Assistita’(Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)). In March 2002, a draft law was presented to the Camera (lower house). The draft was written by a small Committee of the Commission for Social Affairs and aimed to regulate ART. In April 2002, the Movement of Women organized many events (meetings, petitions, open letters, etc.) to express their collective disagreement at the attack on self-determination contained in the draft law (n.47). Between 11 and 12 June of the same year, the draft law was again discussed in the lower house. Despite the many demonstrations in front of the Parliament, by the end of the first day, Article 1 of the law and some other amendments were approved. Basically, the law recognized the rights of the embryo, but it cancelled any right to be born; it allowed women access to ART only when there were no other available methods to solve their infertility. Only married and not homosexual couples are entitled to access the treatment. Finally, on 12 June, the long-debated Article 4 of the law was approved by the lower house, forbidding access to heterologous techniques. On 6 July, the 6th collectives, groups, individuals and associations of concerned people participated in a demonstration in Rome, but the law was finally approved in 2004 (Law N. 40/2004). In January 2005, the call for a referendum to revoke this law was accepted, but it failed.