Um, what's up, Italy?

"Ciao!"

-Italian people

Tens of thousands of anti-gay protestors are heading to Rome today to register their outrage at a bill being voted in the Italian Senate next month that would give same-sex couples the same rights a married couples. Can you believe it? Rome. As in Rome, Italy which, last I checked is in Europe: the home of discotheques, universal healthcare and laid-back social equality. And it's not even a gay marriage bill, it's a gay-sorta-marriage bill that would grant same-sex couples the same rights as marriage but not actual marriage.

That's right Italy, you're up there
with Armenia, freaking Armenia... 

Bullshit, right? Embarrassingly, Italy is the only country in western Europe that doesn't recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions putting them up there Azerbaijan, Romania and wherever Doctor Doom's from. According to the bill's author:

"Italy can't remain the tail-end in Europe in the field of civil and human rights..." 

-Monica Cirinna, Italian Senator

and totally sick of this shit

Italy's not exactly famous for
starting out on the right side...

Unsurprisingly, the event's organizer also points out that Italy is a kind of hold-out among European nations, although he phrases a little more like a heroic struggle rather than a stubborn refusal to join the twenty first century:

"Italy is one of the few western countries that is still resisting this deviation."

-Massimo Gandolfini, taking a stand, 

you know, against equality

We should probably enjoy
this feeling while it lasts...

I guess this streak of conservatism shouldn't come as a total surprise. I mean, Italy is where the Pope lives. And remember a while back when Barilla brand pasta decided to chime in about gay families? Yeah, that was great. And then there was that confusingly anti-gay bullshit coming out of totally gay founders of Dolce and Gabbana. Still, it's a little weird that we Americans can lay claim to being more socially progressive than a country in Europe, even if we did only get on board with marriage equality last year.

Anyway, they're calling today's gathering 'Family Day' and protestors are descending on Rome like goddamn Visigoths. Although its organizers predicted that the event would draw as many as a million people, actual numbers are in the tens of thousands which is still a lot of angry homophobes for a country that gave us gladiator movies.

Fun Fact: the actual Sack of Rome in 410 A.D. involved something like 40,000
 Visigoths, not far off from today's protests, which, holy shit Italy. I mean, holy shit.

(source: Wiki the elder)