Italy Bans Discriminatory Advertising Days After Defeat of Hate Crime Bill

Alessandro Zan, the Italian legislator who proposed the bill that would make discrimination against women, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, and ethnic groups a hate crime. (Wikimedia Commons)

Italy’s senate approved a law that would ban street advertising discriminating women, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, and ethnic groups on November 5. The approval comes just days after the senate struck down a bill that would consider violence against LGBTQ+ and disabled people, as well as misogyny, to be hate crimes.

The bill that failed, nicknamed the Zan Bill after the gay Democratic party legislator Alessandro Zan, would allow those convicted of hate crimes to be imprisoned for up to four years and would increase funding to groups fighting against such discrimination. The Zan Bill initially passed Italy’s lower house of parliament but faced opposition from conservatives and the Vatican. Conservatives claimed that the bill would restrict freedom of speech and objected to a section that would implement an anti-homophobia day in schools.

In June, the Vatican took the unprecedented step of formally opposing the legislation through a diplomatic communication, claiming that it would violate Catholics’ freedom of thought, which is protected by the Lateran Pacts; a set of documents that established the Vatican state during the unification of Italy. Historically, the Vatican has only intervened informally in Italian politics.

The Zan Bill was ultimately defeated in the Senate in a secret vote of 154 to 131 on October 27. Because the vote was secret, senators did not have to publicly reveal how they voted and thus could easily vote against party lines. 

Conversative lawmakers drew criticism after videos emerged of senators standing and applauding the defeat of the bill. Enrico Letta, the former Prime Minister and leader of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), said, “​​They wanted to stop the future. They wanted to bring Italy back in history,” while PD senator Caterina Biti said, “I feel like vomiting.”

However, the senate approved a bill that would ban discriminatory messaging in street advertisements on November 5, a move that particularly infuriated right wing groups because it came on the heels of the defeat of the Zan Bill. The bill was introduced as part of a broader transportation decree. Lucio Malan, a senator with the far-right political party Brothers of Italy, said, “It’s a measure that was introduced treacherously.” Another Brothers of Italy senator, Andrea Bertoli, described the manner of the bill’s introduction as “shameful.”

While this bill will not make misogyny or discrimination against disabled and LQBTQ+ people a hate crime like the Zan Bill would have, it will be a step toward preventing imagery that perpetuates harmful stereotypes about gender, ability, and sexual orientation in advertising.